USMC finally retires the Bell AH-1W

[chopper2004]

After 3 and half decades its final goodbye to the Whiskey model so Semper Fidelis.



https://news.bellflight.com/en-US/ff...wz3BGTUhEGXRlw

[gulliBell]

That works out at only 148 hours flown per year per helicopter on average. Not a very high utilization rate.

[LRP]

Originally Posted by gulliBell

That works out at only 148 hours flown per year per helicopter on average. Not a very high utilization rate.

All 179 aircraft weren't delivered in 1986.

[gulliBell]

It still equates to 148 hours/year/aircraft which is a very low utilization rate however you dice it. If you add up the total cost of the program over 900,000 flight hours the $/hr would be a huge number.

[etudiant]

Originally Posted by gulliBell

That works out at only 148 hours flown per year per helicopter on average. Not a very high utilization rate.

Probably not unusual though.
Afaik, the military do not use their planes that much, the high time B-52 has only about 25,000 hours after 60 years of service. Similarly, the life of fast jets usually only a few thousand hours over a few decades, so only hundreds of hours per year.

[rrekn]

Design life for the F-35 is only 8,000 hours... So an average life of 5,215 hours is on par for Military work