Originally Posted by
Maff
I've been quoted via the authorised dealer $1.5m USD + TAX for a 505 with a reasonable spec, i.e rotor brake, bose headsets, carpet, dual controls.
$1.5 million?? Holy friggin' cow! I guess Bell missed their "around $1.0million" mark by a bit.
Before getting into the 505, let me say something about jeffg for a moment. Jeffy, why do you have to go after me personally? I've never done anything to you, and attacking me personally makes you look so...I don't know...immature, like a little piece of sh*t.
And what's your hard-on for the FH1100? We weren't trying to certify it - IT WAS ALREADY CERTIFIED by Hiller back in the 1960's. Fairchild-Hiller produced over 250 of them before pulling the plug. We were merely trying to *sell* it. (We also were trying to get the 12E rotor blades approved for the 1100 but that was not a deal-breaker. It was a fine ship even with the original blades.)
As far back as 2001 we knew we were in a race with Frank Robinson. We'd brought the 1100 to a convention, and Frank was there. He came to our booth and spent a lot of time poring over the 1100. It didn't take a rocket scientist, genius or fortune-teller to make us realize that he was (logically) going to come out with a turbine version of the R-44. And although Robinson didn't officially announce the R-66 until 2007, you have to know that they were working on it long before then.
So we knew we were in a case of Beat The Clock, or more appropriately, "Beat The Frank." All we needed was a launch customer for five ships and we could have started production. Building 20 ships per year would've made us very happy. But we never got that far. As good a ship as the 1100 was, nobody really wanted a "brand-new 30 year-old helicopter." In the end, the owner of the company simply ran out of time and money. And when the R-66 hit the market it was, naturally, game-over.
Which brings us to the 505. Yes, it is certified. By the way, thank you jeffy for the link to the TCDS. I notice though that it's dated June 20th, and my previous post on the matter was on June 19th. So the TCDS wasn't yet published when I wrote it. So thanks for being a dick! As usual.
Okay, Bell has come out with a 5-seat helicopter with an over-powered French engine and an L-4 drivetrain. It's got a nice, big, unobstructed cabin and modern avionics. It will likely lift and climb away with anything you can put in it. But with only 85 gallons of fuel, *nobody* is going to be cruising that Arrius around at MCP as the fuel burn would assuredly be more than 30 gph.
By the way, I didn't dream up that "125+ knots" cruise speed thing. Bell did in their initial promo material for the 505. So while the Arrius could maybe pull a lightly-loaded 505 along at that speed, pilot-reports are that the ride-quality is "not the best" up there and its realistic cruise speed will be around 110-115 knots. John Eacott reports (and I can attest) that L-models could go that fast. I've flown the "straight" L-model and they were pretty zippy (faster than the later L-1 and L-3).
Plus, NOBODY is going to be flying that Arrius around at MCP, which will probably push the fuel consumption up above 30 gph. And with only 85 gallons of jet fuel onboard, that won't get you far.
I am really, really surprised that the nose of the prototype made it into production. The first guy who takes a bird through the windshield of a 505 (at any speed!) is going to have a very bad day. A friend of mine told me that their 505's will have an extra-thick windscreen on the pilot's side. (Heh, I guess the pax aren't that important.) Extra-thick, maybe, but will it be bird-proof? Sheesh, it would have to be glass, right? Maybe all 505 pilots ought to wear helmets with the visor down!
Oh, and the 505 *will* get winglets. Trust me. Why did Enstrom put them on the 280FX? Simply because the ride quality of the 280C in yaw could make you sick. Why does the Bo-105 have them...the BK117? The 222? Because virtually every helicopter that does better than 110 knots has winglets to help with the yaw. (The Astar is the curious exception.) Do we think Bell has performed some magic on the 505 that will allow it to not have winglets? Remember, the original L-model came out without winglets...briefly. The 505 will get them.
The 505 will probably have c.g. issues. It will *definitely* have LTE issues with that same huge vertical fin that every 206 has. (Didn't Bell learn ANYTHING??) And, at 3680 pounds MGW and a 37 foot rotor diameter, this is one BIG, light, entry-level helicopter.
And now it's up to $1.5million. Hmm, I wonder how long it'll be before we're saying,
"Well yeah, it may cost $2million, but it's twice as good-looking as that R-66 isn't it? Oh...wait..."