Robinson R66 (merged threads)
 

i have heard that robinson has now purchased the engines for the 'r66'. they cost $275,000 and the 'r66' will be a 5 seater

they will offer a turbine heli for $700,000

QUOTE FROM HELI EXPO 05

"You're all going to ask if there's an R66," Robinson said with a smile. His assumption was confirmed by the scattered chuckles among the standing-room-only crowd. "Well, not yet. We have actually spent a lot of time on some preliminary designs for an R66, which will be a five-place helicopter, and that all looks good. But we're still having a little bit of a problem deciding for sure which powerplant to use."
Robinson and his engineers have looked at a number of engines to use in a larger aircraft, including small turbines and a small diesel, but they have yet to find anything suitable. He was quick to add that even if the decision to go forward with an R66 were made today, it would be several years before the aircraft would be available. "You all had better stick with your Raven 2s a little bit longer," Robinson quipped.

R66...interesting.
Hope ole Frank gets rid of that ugly as mast, adds a few more blades on the rotorhead and does add a turbine to it.
Hughesy

Hughesy
About time you became a real Pilot and got some two bladed time under your belt instead of swanning around in your E Model:ok:
Hope you are well mate:ok:
How is your dose of the :D going?

Hey Dis
Im all good man...cheers for asking.
You should have told me your momma had the :D I would have stayed away:E
Yip..sweet as up here in the Arctic....temp dropping though.
Suppose your 130 isnt a real heli then? :ok: :ok:

Hughesy

Just been attending the factory course, and its a toss up between a turbine and diesel piston. If they can get the weight down, it will be a diesel.

When I was at the course last month they talked about turbine, then diesel. Then said a diesel was preferred, but too heavy, and unless the weight could be brought down...

And it looks like they're sticking with the sperm-like contour.

I did a course earlier in the year too and Tim Tucker was saying that Robinson was throwing a lot of money at Mercedes Benz to develop a diesel for the R66 and also Rolls Royce to see if they can develop a hybrid C20/C30 (C25??) turbine engine that has lots of power in reserve and has a longer TBO. :hmm:

looks like we have a while to wait then...

I do hope they've put a bit of thought into the design and shape of it and make it easier on the eye, shorten that mast by a foot and put some decent luggage space in there.

Or will it be as unimaginative as widening the current R44 rear cabin by 20 inches and cram another seat in there.:yuk:

Can somebody from the Agusta design team please have a word in Franks ear with a few suggestions about the shape!!!!!:ok:

it will be very interesting to have a crystall ball and see where robinson is in 10 years time

choose your option

a) R66 is a cheap turbine, massive success, eurocopter sh*t themselves and lose loads of business. R66 revolutionises the industry, like the r22 did

b) R66 never gets off the ground because they cant find the right engine

c) R66 gets built but is such a pig, with awful performance that it fails miserably

d) R66 is released, is reasonably sucessful, but after a spate of crashes, is taken out of service

e) R66 released, moderately sucessfull, Bell buys Robinson, frank retires

whats everyone's bet on this one?!

I would bet on Frank and his team everytime
 

R-77 it will be. Rolls turbine and 5 seats. Faster and cheaper than an EC120.

Less than a million $ for sure. Unveiled at HAI, March 2008, ready to go.

Can someone please explain to me the advantages of a diesel engine for an aircraft the size of an B206? :confused:

I understand that Diesel is more fuel efficient, produces more torque at lower speeds due to the uniqe combustion process called "Compression Ignition" and is more durable than a regular petrol engine. But my question is why not just take the step up and go turbine?

They're smaller, and have a larger power to weight ratio than their reciprocating cousins, not to mention reliable.

Is the only reason the cost? Surely 5 POB is a good enough reason to have something you can rely on. My brief search (very brief) showed no other diesel powered helicopters?

The design, well, I think Mr. Robinson has taken his fetish for tadpoles a little too far! :}

all frank has to do

is get rid of the stupid mast ad some jet ranger skid gear and put a gazelle main rotor system on it. sweet lookin chooper then.

oh forgot! put a bloody TURBINE! in it. dont dick around with a diesel. :ugh:

I'd say putting a diesel in it would be a ballsy move by Robinson considering there are hardly very many airbourne in aeroplanes now.... I reckon Robinson will release a turbine version first and spend a lot longer trying to get a reliable diesel sorted, I think they have learnt from the past and will be very reluctant to move away from an airframe design/shape that they know works............. By god those 44s are ugly! but they are nice to fly, I know I'd rather have an ugly machine that handles well than a hottie that flys like a pig.
A flat floor wouldn't go astray either.... with perhaps removable rear seats like a squirrel maybe?
:}

Why R66 and not R55?
 

Now if this new helicopter is supposedly going to be a five seater, surely it should rather be called a Robinson R55. After all, the R22 is a two seater and the R44 a four seater...

All you experts out there telling Frank what to do! He is a hell of a lot smarter than any of us, besides it is his company, let the man do as he pleases. Start your own helicopter company if you want a certain design.
I myself think that it will be a damn good machine going off his last two attempts. I also guestimate that it may be powered by the new Lycoming IO-580-B1A, until his deisel gets certifed. I am also thinking maybe a six seater, as you would not design a whole new helicopter design for only one seat.
A wider R44 design called the R88.
It all comes down to cost and weight. Turbines may make too expensive for the grass roots pilot, that is how he designs his helicopters, a cheap people mover for the masses.

Never said it was going to be a "bad machine", In fact without re reading all the posts, im sure no one else did either.
Just casually mentioned to get rid of that "ugly as mast"....among other stuff.
:hmm: :ok:

Hughesy

Yes agreed the mast isnt the best but me thinks that the life of the tail boom may and I say may be a tad less shorter (no pun intended) than what Frankie had envisioned if he was to shorten it.....but hey at least he has the brain to put a cowl around it unlike the hideous enstrom...

To Hughesy,
No agression in my post at all, sorry if it came out that way, was actually trying to be funny, guess I better try harder.
I am also a MD500 man, currently flying E model also.
Cheers.

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

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 :ok:

R66 Announcement
 

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?

Robinson Article in Flight International
 

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."

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.

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

"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.

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

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). :E

Mart

any pics of the r66 yet????

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

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

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??!!:= :ugh:
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.:{

Ian Corrigible,

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

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

...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

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.

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

Robinson SAS
 

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

Finally some rough footage of The Robinson R66 Goat...
 

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 !