Hill Helicopters HX50

[hargreaves99]

No, planning permission on the factory has yet to be approved

Planning Applications - Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

Originally Posted by pr00ne

Have they got a factory yet?

[hargreaves99]

Regarding Hill's youtube channel..

I have noticed that any vaguely negative comments get deleted.

Read into that what you will.

[CGameProgrammerr]

That's pretty normal, especially given any negative comments (and any positive ones) are entirely speculative since the product does not exist.

[hargreaves99]

Airframe no 3 being built

You Tube

[Bell_ringer]

Originally Posted by hargreaves99

Airframe no 3 being built

it is painful to watch with that yoof flapping his gob, and whatever small animal seems to be sitting on his forehead. What is the market that is supposed to appeal to?

[315B]

Latest monthly update released yesterday.

You Tube

[whoknows idont]

Originally Posted by Bell_ringer

it is painful to watch with that yoof flapping his gob, and whatever small animal seems to be sitting on his forehead. What is the market that is supposed to appeal to?

Apparently they are now targeting teenagers. Gives some head room in the time line...

[hargreaves99]

no engine running yet.

736 orders placed. and "4,000 qualified buyers in the sales pipeline"

no planning permission on the factory yet.

[206 jock]

Originally Posted by hargreaves99

736 orders placed. and "4,000 qualified buyers in the sales pipeline"

Or 736 people who are taking a big gamble and 4000 others chewing popcorn while watching from the sidelines.

I see that today's offer is £30k deposit and a price of £487k.

Btw is CRAN Jason pretending to be someone else? He hasn't been around here much recently. Funny that.

[Agile]

I keep hearing form Jason
"vertically integrated ..."
"in house..."
"within our own eco system..."

I understand his motivation to fill the gaps left by traditional technology supliers
but ball bearings ... ?, seriously...? its a commodity, yes I concur with him, they have incredible tolerance.
why not leave it to the expert who have been growing that know how for decades.

that all sounds like somebody drunk in the excitement to try to re-invent everything he can touch,
risky speech, especially when we can all see that he is trying to bite more than he can probably chew.

[hargreaves99]

Personally I can't see anyone getting a delivery of their aircraft until late 2026-early 2027.

Happy to be proved wrong of course

[chopper2004]

Originally Posted by hargreaves99

No, planning permission on the factory has yet to be approved

Planning Applications - Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

so where exactly are they building the prototypes ? In the business park






in spite of less than positive observations from the outside, am looking forward to seeing the HX50 prototypes when they come out.

cheers
Hill Development Centre
Units 3 & 4 Key Pt, Towers Business Pk, Wheelhouse Road
Rugeley, Staffordshire WS15 1UZ
United Kingdom

[Bell_ringer]

I was fascinated to learn that some of the orders are from people who have zero flight experience, ordered and then subsequently signed up for training.
That is one way to do it I suppose. One good thing with all the delays is hopefully they will have a few entries in the logbook before being released into the wild with an allegedly quick ship.
What could possibly go wrong.

[admikar]

OK, but that's not really Hill's fault, is it?

[Bell_ringer]

Originally Posted by admikar

OK, but that's not really Hill's fault, is it?

Didn't say it was.
That said, marketing and social media develops a market for you.
Robinson's safety record is often defended by saying that they attract a "more accident prone demographic", so blame the pilot, not the machine.
When you market an aircraft like you do a sportscar, you can but wonder what flock this aircraft will attract. When eventually they exist that is.

[hargreaves99]

There certainly is a lot of hype, promises, plans, videos, mockups, CGI etc.

I'm still hoping to see a working engine this summer.

[helimutt]

Originally Posted by Bell_ringer

it is painful to watch with that yoof flapping his gob, and whatever small animal seems to be sitting on his forehead. What is the market that is supposed to appeal to?

I have to agree. Is this a teenage / youth product with a YouTube backend or is it a serious product for a serious targeted audience? If I was in the market place I’d be switching off after 30 seconds of that.

[hargreaves99]

I agree, it's a very strange decision to have this chap presenting videos

[helimutt]

Ive had a good chat with a guy who has ordered one of these. He’s a very switched on guy and has nothing but a positive outlook on this project. I hope it works out for him because getting one of these at the initial offer price then being able to sell it at the actual sales price will make a very tidy profit. I thanked him but politely declined his offer of placing a deposit in his syndicate. Maybe I’m just too cynical.
In this day and age, I would love to see this as a completed reality, but why can’t I help thinking that I’m watching the production of the first crash test machine.

Watching (with popcorn) with interest from the sidelines.

[hargreaves99]

I get the impression a lot of the people who have paid deposits view it as an "investment" and have no intention of owning/flying one. Either they "sell" their place in the order queue when production starts, or they sell the aircraft when they take delivery.