PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Robinson helicopters added to safety watchlist
Old 30th Oct 2016, 00:52
  #20 (permalink)  
Arm out the window
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: North Queensland, Australia
Posts: 2,980
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I had flown mid-size turbines (mostly teetering head) for quite a few years previous to getting in a Robbie for the first time, and after a couple of hours getting used to things like the rapid spin-up of auto revs and a few other peculiarities like the T-bar cyclic, found them to be quite OK.

Been on them pretty much full time for the past 3 years doing all the whacky things you do when teaching CPL courses with low flying, autos from many different speed/height setups and so on, and I'll happily go out on a limb and say I quite like them.

They are built down to a weight and price, but when flown with respect and within their limits, and maintained properly, they're no more an accident waiting to happen than any other helicopter. They are responsive, manoeuvrable, quite good fun to fly and a great training platform for teaching students to think about power and wind.

Sure, they're power limited in some circumstances and can be overpitched, and you can't rule out mast bump with a teetering head - strangely enough just like the B model Iroqouis I did my helicopter training in, and you won't hear people bagging those out very often - it's more like reverence for the Huey (which I have my share of too!) but slagging off of the Robinsons even though they share quite similar characteristics in many respects.
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