Originally Posted by
riff_raff
I Seems reasonable given the relative complexity of the drivetrain and that it is an all new design. Being internally funded there are no contract schedule milestones to meet, and any flight test failures will reflect poorly on Sikorsky's JMR-TD effort which relies on the same technology.
The point is why not wait until after the required testing is complete to start real flight testing. Instead of rushing first flight to meet some artificial date for a press release.