One thing you might also consider is: what do you intend to fly after you get your PPL? If you are going for a CFI you are likely to be instructing in Robinson products. If you are lucky enough to be buying something for personal use, what will that be?

Hey DirtDiver....Your most important consideration, in my humble opinion is: Safety, safety first.....so then that must exclude all Robinson products ;) Crapinson Flimsicopter - greatest Widow maker ever built :yuk::mad:
:yuk:

Happy landings :ok:

At this moment I think I will stop at PPL, unless I see a big change in the pilots market (Being a pilot is still the dream but being realistic it is not the best time for low timers).

I am living in Europe so there are G2's flying around so renting those should not be a problem, however there are way more R22's

Thanks and yes i am really impressed with the safety features of the G2!

I have worked as and engineering officer at CHC NL (Den Helder base) which gave me the opportunity to get knowledge and experience on the bigger equipment. Comparing the small G2 to the bigger EC155 I see a lot of similarities (pretty logical as Mr. Guimbal is ex Eurocopter engineer).

At this moment I am reading through the Flight Manual + Maintenance Manual (downloaded) to get a better technical view of the G2.

a more technical knowledge from the G2.

AAIB report on G-CILU accident during training at Kemble, June 2016.


Seems to be a handling issue during training, not the aircraft

Had an hour in VVB's G2 at Elstree the other day, "auditioning" flight schools near me to continue my training.
Having had 16 hours in an R22 in South Africa (Rand airport, 5300' ASL) all I can say is I'm impressed.

The hover was difficult at first, not used to the amount of right pedal the fenestron requires at liftoff and hover.
The pedals also seemed quite "sticky" to me. Not many hours on the aircraft so it could still be a "breakin" period compared to the multi-100 hour r22's I've been on.
Easier than I though to make the transition to right pedal for collective power (being an opposite MR rotation to the R22)

Cyclic very stiff in comparison, but good in limiting exaggerated rookie pilot pot stirring. Not as stiff as when your check the R44 controls with hydraulics off. Maybe half that. Definitely not as floppy as a well used R22 that behaves like it's got erectile dysfunction. (apologies if that triggers anyone)

Once I got the pedal sensitivity, I found the hover not too hard (in comparison), but still tended to yaw left if I wasn't on top of it.

At cruise you didn't notice and it behaved as expected.

Loved the stability at cruise. Found it much easier to hold a steady alt/speed. Plenty of time to look out the window and enjoy flying considering it was my first hour in it.

I also though the lack of vertical bar in the screen would hurt my ability to hold attitude visually, but the pin holding the string is just as good.

The glass cockpit is gorgeous. Odd that it dims to almost unusable level when you turn on navigation lights.

Flapback wasn't as prominent as I expected, but ETL vibration was obvious in the taxi. Not disconcerting or affecting control, but an obvious marker as to when ETL was occurring. An obvious "jiggling" feedback to the cyclic.

I thought it was a lovely machine, great for training.
Definitely a challenger to the R22. With the overhaul lifespan on the robinsons, this brand has a lot going for it for schools.

I've done a £ breakdown and while the instructor at VVB was trying to tell me the G2 was more expensive than the R22 (maybe at their previous R22 prices) it's still cheaper per hour (once VAT is included) at the other schools at Elstree and Denham.

Flight schools might like to brag that the Robinson is "raw" flying, but I think that pilot progression will accelerate with this aircraft.
The reasoning that it takes typically 60-70 hours to become proficient rather than the 45 minimum (EASA) may face a challenge with this ship.

Forgot to mention, autorotation was a breeze.
Loads of energy in the rotors, and a massive margin for rotor speed. No more chasing the needle like in the R22.

That sounds rather stiff to me! There is a friction on the cyclic. Was that friction ON?

Indeed. As in many controlled airspaces one is supposed to use navigation lights during daytime too. Try whether the "LUM +" and "LUM -" controls on the top right of the Electronic Pilot Monitor (EPM) Flight Screen can bring back brightness while nav light ON.

H&H, no the friction was off.
Just very stiff when going through the checks in comparison to the R22.
During flight it's great. Dampens untrained movements.

Yes, it was set to max brightness.
No doubt a software update would fix that.

Hi WillyPete,

You are right that the Cabri controls feel heavy in comparison to R22 when doing the checks but in flight, provided the trim is set right, you just don't notice. In fact I like the fact that there is just a little bit of resistance in the cyclic so that you are aware that you are moving it.

Overall, doing a PPL(H) on the Cabri may end up costing less than the R22 even though the hourly rate might be higher. A number of instructors have mentioned to me that students take fewer hour to qualify in the Cabri. You yourself mentioned just how east it is to hold height and heading in the cruise.

You also mentioned a tendency to yaw left in the hover. Fenestron thrust is not directly proportional to pedal movement. I did 1,500 Robinson hours and it took me a little while to acquire the new muscle memory.

You soon get used to the trim and being more active on the pedals.

Cabri is the future.

Yes, the torque control is not linear like the R22.
lots of movement right at the end of the pedal movement.

In my opinion it's a good thing, in the UK. A lot of pilots looking to advance will end up on Eurocopters.

On cost, it's not just the time saved in training, I've run the numbers and between Denham and Elstree (my two nearest airfields) VVB's G2 price is actually cheaper per hour after tax than the R22 at the other schools at those airfields.
Although I probably shouldn't broadcast that, as their instructor hours will fill up and I'll be left waiting. ;-)

Cabri vs R22
 

Hi WP,

I have flown both R22 and Cabri from Elstree. Send me a PM if you would like a chat.

No problem. Are you with Flying Pig?

Guimbal Drone
 

Here is the 'long-awaited' Guimbal Cabri G2 drone version:

DCNS and Airbus Helicopters join forces to design drone system - Vertical Magazine

Ta-da! Now the Hélicoptères Guimbal business plan makes sense.

Well I had the pleasure to fly the G2 again the other day. We had a steady southerly wind so did a bunch of autorotations to the ground. For such a small machine it is a remarkably simple maneuver when compared to other small helicopters.

Now for those of you instructing and doing power recovery autorotations do you do it with the governor on or off? The one thing I don't like about power recoveries with the governor on is that it kicks in so hard.

Any tips/tricks are greatly appreciated.

It has been a while when I flew G2 last time, but I believe that maintaining RPM a bit closer to high limit before you bring the power back on, prevents that kick.

This has been improved at the beginning of 2016. The nav lights do no more change the backlight level of the EPM.
The new range of adjustment covers the day and the night ranges of the former version.
The dashboard illumination has also been improved.

I'm not aware of the details but improvements have been made in the behaviour of the governor.
The new software has been released in june, 2016.

Uh, there is no cyclic friction.
The only friction is on the collective.

.
The total number of G2 produced this year should reach 55 that is 11 more than last year. :)

Not bad when you see the general downturn of the industry.
.