md 600 driver and Notar fan,
Please don't take my technical observations about Notar as opinion, the facts are as stated. The real issue is to separate preferences from fact, something you both have trouble doing. Regarding resistance to change, the issue is to know what change costs you, and be prepared to pay the price. A Notar carries less than a regular tail rotor because the fan eats more power, period, your rosey-glowed opinions notwithstanding.
When "Notar fan" says that the the Notars are not short on power, it is because he has not noted the power the engine puts out as compared to the load the helicopter carries. Clearly, a Notar does not come out of the sky when you try to fly it, it is sneakier than that, it carries about 1 passenger less.
The obserations I make are fact based, but they are not damning, the concept of Notar works, it is different, and you can certainly go out and buy one. Nobody is stopping you.
Regarding the comment on Black Hawks and anti-tank rockets, just know that the unit that is depicted in the film had several of their MH-6's modified to become Notars, and they flew them for several months. They then rejected the Notar, and had the aircraft modified back into regular MH-6's because they said the Notar took too much power and was poor at targeting.
If you have to schedule an RPG hit in your helicopter, try to be in a Black Hawk, or one of the Mil bureau's fine machines, and stay away from Notars, just like the Task Force did, Notar Fan. The Notar's entire tail cone is vulnerable to putting the aircraft into a spin, because it can become a thruster if the hole is big enough, and an air waster in any case, so the vulnerable area of a Notar is very very large, and it is much less combat survivable than a conventional helo. If you'd like, I will post a picture of a Black Hawk that flew 100 miles back to the rear area with a hole in its tail cone that was made by an RPG. That hole would have cost a Notar its whole fan's worth of control, but this Black Hawk carried all its passengers home.