Which machine should we buy?
Hi all ..
I'm a low time heli pilot and my 200 hours has all been on 22's and 44's. I part own a 44 and havent flown anything else other than Robbies so I lack perspective.
Outside of NZ where I live, a mate and I are building our 3rd resort in an island group in the Pacific and when it opens we will have enough customers to start a wee airline. All three resorts are almost in a direct line from each other and sit between 28 and 49 nm from the mainland. Choppers dont currently feature on the landscape in the local market as the cost is prohibitively high for most holidaying couples given the alternative of a boat ride or a sea plane , however there is a game changing opportunity .... Build a runway on the new resort which is in middle of the three islands , hub customers to that point , by a couple of 6-8 seater cessna's , do a luggage run by boat once a day to our other 2 resorts and fly customers by chopper to the other 2 resorts from the hub . The flights to the resorts north and south of the hub point would be short, approx 6 and 9 mins respectively . So what chopper to buy and why?
Here's the issues ... The flights are short most flights will be 5-10 mins and all over water. We would build a hangar on the middle island and base the choppers there so they are going to be in a maritime environment. Potential for lots of short scenics...island hoping etc so its feasible there could be 10-20 movements a day. The main purpose is simply ferrying people so luggage and weight capacity isnt a huge issue , nothwithstand that having power baggage and lifting capacity may offer future benefits. We would really need to buy two machines to allow for maintenance outages etc so instinctvely something tells me its better to buy two identical machines? The climate is hot and humid.
Would you trust the blades and rust protection flying over water in a commercial environment with a 44 clipper or would you go for a bigger machine? Is pertol or turbine the way to go? From a business perspective are you better off with a small machine so for couples want to island hop sight see etc the cost is reasonable and thus its easy to sell seats , or is the cost per seat actually better on a a larger machine like an squirell. Is one engine or two better when weighing up safety vs economics ? Any advice greatly appreciated