With all due respect to G-SASY I do have to disagree with some of his claims - unless there have been some major improvements to the EC130 over the years. I do not know what a "Stylence" refers to, unless it is a new lighter, faster, quieter model I have not come across.
The differences I found between the "Stylence" and those I flew are:
- Heavier than B407 by 177 kg in general, you can find that anywhere on the internet.
- The several that I have flown were only the 846 hp varient, I didn't know they have increased the power available to 870 hp
- The only time I could get 130 knots, straight & level, was during track and balance runs with self and engineer in front. Without the weight of two up in front the stick is too far forward in fast flight and the mast limit light would illuminate. Did heaps of T&B runs too - the machines vibrate so much. I accept 122 kts as a max cruise speed and it would be around that figure with little differrence with AUW. I think the wide cabin produced a top speed influenced by form drag rather than AUW.
- Full fuel and seven up? Seven lightweights then. W&B is always an issue. A little bird once told me that they will fly very well with seven full size pax, and all their gear, but that's just a little bird talking
.
- The sales people will tell you it is the quietest helicopter but I suspect that they have never heard a NOTAR machine fly over because it was so quiet. I actually had complaints about the extra noise from the B4 but I dismiss that as the fact that it sounds different and so attracts attention. Nobody can tell me that it is a really quiet helicopter when you are in the portside forward quadrant as a listener. The different noise signature does have its good points. You can land close to a herd of cattle and many of them wont bother to get up. Horses, including the racing variety, similar. Sheep? There's another story. They hate it. But who cares about sheep?