None of the two
Hi,
I've been operating various types of helicopters in East Africa for the last 5 years, both single and twins. I also had quite a few clients asking for the same question regarding twin helicopter.
In my opinion it really depends where in Africa you want to operate. In East Africa for example, the main hub is Wilson airport, Nairobi. Nowhere else you'll get maintenance support.
Also comparing helicopters on paper doesn't make any sense to me. You need to make sure that the type you want to get can do the job and can get the proper optional such as sand filters, blade tapes or floats. I remember a company in Sudan trying to operate a EC145 without sand filters: After 70 hours we found the axial compressor blades quite badly eroded.
Let's face the fact: Other than Southern Africa forget about Bell, they have no network for support at all, and you need someone on site to assist you. The british army is operating B212 from Nanyuki and they are such a pain! Too slow, can't fly above 12,000ft, massive maintenance penalty.
MD has a lovely machine but they are dying and won't provide any kind of support. Maintaining a MD530 is already a huge ball-ache.
For me the best compromise for medium twins in Africa are:
- EC145
- AS365N3
That is based on experience, not reading graphs. They are simple and robust, there is some licensed engineers and AMO available locally and all parts can be found easily. The EC135 is a really nice machine, but no one is operating it around here which means you're on your own.
Hope it helps
BR