Gerhardt

am I the only one astonished by Mr. Selfish's ingenious humor?

Hughesy

To Limit.
Sorry man, Didnt take take it to seriously tho...I was joking also.
Think i will stick to my MD's though.
Cheers
Hughesy

HeliEng

I hear that Frank Robinson is making an announcement about the new R66 today.

Anybody have any further info or know if this is correct?

cyclic_fondler

There's a good article in Flight International this week about the growth of the Robinson Family.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...s-to-grow.html

The final paragraph is
"For the mid-term future Robinson is designing a turbine-powered five-seater, "but it will be three to five years, even if we do it", says Frank Robinson."

Baldegret

Just read the following in the weekly AOPA e-newsletter:

ROBINSON TO DESIGN FIVE-PASSENGER HELICOPTER
Robinson Helicopter Company is testing parts and will assemble a prototype in a year or two of a five-place R66 helicopter, company founder Frank Robinson said this week at the Helicopter Association International convention in Orlando, Florida. It will be powered by a Rolls-Royce turbine engine and is intended as a replacement for older Bell JetRanger aircraft nearing lifetime limits. It will look much like the present R44 four-passenger helicopter and have a dedicated baggage compartment. Robinson was coy on the cost, saying it would be less than $1 million but more than the R44's cost of $400,000. It will have a two-blade rotor that will be mounted 8 inches higher than that on the R44 in order to handle center-of-gravity issues created by the larger design.

Ian Corrigible

Gonna to be interesting to see how many operators really do stump-up another $300-400K for.a widebody R44 with an Allison C20. The 5th seat will be of limited value to most, and cruise speed won't change much if at all, so turbine DOCs are going to be a high price to pay for a small baggage hold for my clubs...

When'll the diesel version be available?

I/C

cyclic_fondler

"It will look much like the present R44 " and "two-blade rotor that will be mounted 8 inches higher "

Please tell us that that's a joke as it will look hideous.

Frank, please please ask one of the designers at Agusta to give you a hand in the shaping of the aircraft.

Head Turner

At this point in time it might be voted the most ugly helicopter

Graviman

I've often heard about how much more docile the R44 is compared to the R22. Is this just to do with having a higher inertia rotor, hence slower overall response, or is there also some difference in the control system?

This week i have been mostly considering: whether a gyro can be fitted into a teetering rotor swash plate (not sure about flapback feedback though).

Mart

wind for sale

any pics of the r66 yet????

Hughesy

I wonder if they can get it to sound like a Huey. Like that BO105 video. Now that would be sweet!

andTompkins

Did Frank officially announce it as the R66 or will it be the R55? I personally like our PPRUNE version of the R88!

13snoopy

Cyclic Fondler and Head Turner,
Oh, how I couldn't agree with you both more.
I own an R44 and I still think they are well..let's just say "challenged" in the looks department.
But if this new bird is gonna be a wider, blown-up version of the R44 with an even HIGHER main rotor mast, then somebody's kidding themselves in Frank's design department (OK, I know. Frank IS the design department)
On another web site I likened this new ship to looking like a giraffe. (And that's probably an insult to the giraffe!)
I mean come on, they are installing an even HIGHER main rotor mast than what the R44 has already??!!
And please don't tell me that looks isn't going to play a role in the purchase. Particularly when the price tag approaches high six figures.
I love Robinsons but if the initial reports are correct, this new heli is (I am afraid) going to be the most hideous looking helicopter currently being made anywhere.

HeliEng

Ian Corrigible,

I don't believe it is going to be powered by an Allison C20.

Big Bucks Bernie

It will be powered by the new Rolls-Royce RR300 (see here).

Ian Corrigible

...the RR300 being nothing more than a rebadged C20 with a scaled-down C30 compressor and a minimal improvement in SFC and life. With all the money that went into GAP back in the '80s, it's just a shame that we're still being forced to use 1960s tech.

Honeywell's SHFE actually looks like an improvement, but how many years away is that?

I/C

flyby_heli

For all of us not attending Heli-Expo this year, AIN tv (http://www.aintv.com )has a news update from the show every day. The R-66 was mentioned and apparently Robinson has ordered more than 200 of the newly developed Rolls Royce 3300 engine.

Graviman

Thanks TorqueStripe. I didn't realise R44 had hydraulics, but i imagine they have set out to use improved cambered aerofoils, so need it on a medium size machine. TR direction is optimal bottom forwards direction, so will work with MR downwash.

I imagine R66 pylon extension is to keep it's handling competetive with modern hingeless designs, but without the cost. Putting rotor so far above mass centroid may cause reduced hover stability, from low frequency flapback oscillation , so i would not be suprised if design team were considering SAS.

Mart

Air-Five-oh

Robinson already announced that SAS and autopilot would be available shortly for the R-44. There is no reason not to include it in the R-66. It only weighs a few pounds

mountjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXydx0vhk-k

Just found this on another forum, along with pictures, seems like the name is sticking too..

At least someone's got a sense of humour !