FH1100's in New Zealand

[BigMike]

A blast from the past....

West Coast pilots will know the location... ;)


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4628/39772771352_64dd513c37_b.jpg

[krypton_john]

Here's one for sale - cheaper than an R22:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/aircraft/aircraft/listing/2944077710?bof=deREFVDR

Anyone know anything about this type? Flyability, reliability, parts availability, maintainability?

[FH1100 Pilot]

It is a dead helicopter. Parts are problematic... as in, there are no parts. There are no new blades (main or tail). There are life-limited parts on the machine with low hour limits (like the main driveshaft) for which there are *NO* replacements. There cannot be an airworthy FH110 with a main driveshaft with more than 1800 hours on it. And magically, none of them do! Amazing. And no, Bendix did not make a butt-load of excess driveshafts to serve as replacements. And no, the K-Flex from the 206 does not fit.

Here's another "gotcha." The original factory got the manufacturer of the transmission oil filter to not put their part number on it but rather a Fairchild-Hiller ("24-XXX") part number. Thus, you can only get a trans filter from the airframe manufacturer. (And there is no airframe manufacturer anymore aside from the TC holder.). So you can't even cross-reference the part number and buy the non-aviation equivalent. So how are people overhauling their transmissions with new filters? It's a mystery to me!

It was a good-looking, well-designed helicopter for its time (1965) with some clever features (dual hydraulics!) compared to its competition. But Hiller only made less than 240 of them, and there are only a handful in existence now. If I was insane and thinking about buying one, I would do a SERIOUS, extremely detailed inspection of the logbooks and Component Historical Record cards. And I'd hire someone like me to go over them and tell you what you probably don't want to hear.

[Nigel Osborn]

I enjoyed flying the FH1100 in PNG in the late 60s. Even with the derated C18 it had plenty of power at altitude. My highest landing was about 14000 ft & hundreds above 10000 ft or so. The rate of climb was also excellent at those heights. It's a great shame that they have been allowed to pass away.