Originally Posted by
pumaboy
Merlin will never Work in civil SAR or O&G for the reason it is too darn expensive to operate.
Westland tried 20 years ago pitching to all offshore operators even back then there was not the numbers to make affordable to operate in the NS .
Didn't I read somewhere that the big change in the 20 years since then is that oil and gas exploration is pushing the fields further and further out from land, to places where the 225/92 simply can't reach without significant sacrifices like extra tankage in place of pax, pushing the -101 back into the frame (and, possibly, just possibly the Boeing -247)? So too expensive given the current locations of the field, but a possibility given projected locations. Never say never!