Originally Posted by
jeffg
The question isn't whether the 429 is actually a JAR 29 because it isn't. The question should be, as Shawn Coyle points out, why the limit at 7000lbs for JAR 27? What advantage/disadvantage in safety is delineated at 7000 lbs? Shouldn't passenger count be the driving factor to determine 27/29 airframes? While this may provide an opportunity to poke Bell in the eye have you asked yourself what advantages opening up the 27 limit to 7500 or even 8000 lbs might provide us as a community in improved aircraft and performance capabilities? Perhaps that's the real story here, why the authorities are so hard over on 7000 lbs for helicopters but are willing to have a wide range of weights for similar fixed wing. Maybe it's time the regs change to catch up with the fixed wing world?
There is a world outside the FAR and JAR: blooming CASA and the CAR's, for one!
Our regs are dominated by a personal crusade by a (now deceased) CASA FOI who decided that helicopters should be Transport Class A at half the fixed wing limit of 5700kg. Yes,
2750kg/6,050lbs is the weight that Australian helicopters become liable for maintenance at "Airline" standards, plus endorsements are dictated by the same weight. A BK117 requires 10 hours training plus another 20 (?) hours ICUS before charter ops, whereas an A109 (on grandfather rights when it was only 2600kg) needs only 5 hours and 10 ICUS. Yet which is the more complex aircraft
