I hope I'm wrong, but I do believe second part is the reason for it.

Apart from deferring tax, it is a great way to limit liability.
Tiered structures aren’t uncommon - but 7?
Every penny counts, I suppose.

Let's hope we don't see the 'liability shuffle' as described by Hargreaves99, in action when things go wrong.

There are loads of companies out there that have more than 7 subsidiaries , it is as said before to protect assets, reduce tax liabilities, raise capital easier, protect their intellectual property, efficiencies, easier for M&A's, protect and limit liability incase something goes wrong with your product.
Sometimes it takes a lot of forensic accounting to unearth all the different companies hidden behind the main group especially when they are set up in different countries, mostly in tax friendly places around the globe.
So Hill Helicopters Ltd might have even more subsidiaries than the 7 listed above.

Crab I think you mean if !:=

Or they might not - lets be fair, if they are trying to hide the companies behind the main company, they've not shown a lot of imagination...

It appears plenty of people are still placing orders for the HX and HC, so while this continues all is good.

I'm looking forward to seeing the prototype flying in 2023. I'm genuinely interested to see the result.

I did but maybe I am just being prescient:)

Crab, to be fair i m sure he will have loads of problems but having seen a lot of what goes on and I then compare it to the Cabri G2 factory ( which i saw when i nearly became the UK distributor about 10 years ago ) one is like my garden shed, i will let you wonder which one

An airframe has been built.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1630cf16c8.jpg

Is this not just the first mock-up shown at the last gathering?
An actual airframe is something that is intended to fly..

Errr, I am not sure. I am sure the video explains it. I can't be arsed watching the "yoof" presenter of these videos.

I just watched it through, not bad though not as comprehensively or personably explained as Mike Patey videos.

From what I gathered, it's the first airframe built from prototype moulds and is being used for manufacturing and structural testing/proving, etc.

That would make it a pre-production fuselage rather than an airframe wouldn't it?

Blimey, really looking to split hairs now. Like H99, I'm not sure why they chose the 'yoof' presenter but he's not in it much.

What is clear from the video is how pleased they are at the end of the process. If that's not genuine excitement, they're in the wrong business!

The pre-production Concordes were the third and fourth fliers. As far as I know BAC also built 1-11s and VC-10s for static test which were built using production tooling, were part of the production line and had construction numbers allocated - built to the same standard but not to completion, don't know about other manufacturers. If it could be completed and flown then I'd call it an airframe. Semantics maybe? :}

Either way, the video is of a fuselage built as they would intend to do so for production rather than a mock up.

except that by their own admission this was to prove a technique which was not right yet. So this is a proof of concept. From what they said, or skirted around, it is not intended to fly.
if it is, it will inherit a serial number.

OK, who cares what it is?
It's a progress from where they were.

Latest predictions being given by Hill are ..

- engine running by June 2023
- prototype flying by end of 2023

Have they got a factory yet?