I currently fly the R22 but I've been considering getting a G2 rating for a while now. We all know the drawbacks of the R22 so I won't list them off all over again, but it does appear that the G2 has more than its fair share of accidents - fortunately no fatalities thus far... To my inexperienced eye, each of these accidents 'seem' to be associated with mishandling of the tail whilst close to landing, with subsequent loss of control due to further mishandling of the situation.
It is easy to just say the R22 is under engineered, but I'd argue that the majority of its accidents have been a result of pilot handling errors (it's just that it is far less forgiving than most other helicopters). My question is, how easy is it to control the tail of a G2? Are these handling errors occurring because it is trickier than other helicopters and so inexperienced pilots are failing to keep up with it?
Without this tail issue, I'd switch to the G2 almost in a heart-beat. But the frequency of these accidents (whilst non-fatal), does give me reservations.