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Old 17th Mar 2014, 15:32
  #155 (permalink)  
FH1100 Pilot
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Pensacola, Florida
Posts: 770
Received 29 Likes on 14 Posts
Hmm.

"Modern cab?" Like I said, everything is a compromise. Nobody on the planet would say that the Astar has a nice, crashworthy cabin. We've all seen that flimsy cabin shell attached to the floor frame of the 350. I suspect that the 505 will employ the same technique. In other words, the structure of the 505 will all be, not in the cabin itself but in the bottom of the fuselage and that first bulkhead behind the back seats. Not good for crashworthiness. Modern? I think not. Modern-looking, perhaps (although again, I think not).

And I'm not so sure I'd call the installation of FADEC a "significant benefit" over a 206. Yes, it makes starting "easier" (although having said that, a 206B is pretty dang easy to start)...but that's about it. FADEC doesn't bring any measurable performance increases or fuel savings to an engine...and it certainly doesn't stop a pilot from overtemping the engine in flight by pulling too hard on the left-hand lever. So, "significant benefit?"....ahhhhh, I dunno... Extra cost and complexity, to be sure.

I look at this proposed 505 with the critical (if maybe a little jaundiced) eye of a guy who's been flying and operating helicopters for a long, long time. And frankly, I expected more from Bell than...this. It will be VERY interesting to see what the actual numbers are once they start flying a prototype. But, knowing what we know about the laws of physics and what things weigh, I'm skeptical that the 505 is going to be a huge improvement over a 206B...much less a "straight" 206L on low-skids (which might actually be a more fair comparison if you blocked-off those two rear-facing seats and called it a "five-seater with tons of room and lots of gas").
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