If Mr Hills owns some really good patented innovations then he may be able to make more money licensing them than actually building and selling whole helicopters. Under this model the helicopters are just sales/proving platforms for his innovations.

SO how do you KNOW Bruno is not doing a G4??

Don't want to risk the thread drift, but that was Guimbal's answer in an interview a while back.
That building trust and support around the G2 was the only focus that made sense.

The point i was trying to make is: there must be a relation between the price of the machine and the likelihood of the company to be around in 10 years.
I don't see an unproven manufacturer directly entering in the 1 million dollar range helicopter just because of innovative factors.

But they could like Kopter change the way people think about their helicopter (their concept of EC135 performance/space for simplicity of a single engine)
that is good for the industry as a whole because it pushes the more establish players to try harder.

Perhaps we're looking at this wrong. Possibly the plan is, a little like Kopter, to get it far enough along in development that one of the big players comes along and buys it all up for a pot of cash.

Except the big player want to play the higher end of the market, Thus Airbus giving up the H120, saying the segment is not the best use of their capabilities.

That was a real shame I believe. The EC120 is a great machine. What the HX50 sounds like on paper is an EC120 with wheels, and supposedly cheaper. If it flies and performs anything like an EC120 then I'm hoping it will be successful and reliable.

Looks like they're doing their own engine and avionics...

Apollo

The 120 was a crap helicopter, the 341 which it really replaced was quicker,
greater payload and didnt suffer from the C of G issues. as Bruno who was one of the chief designers said it was too fat courtesy of the marketing boys at Airbus

They really are obsessed with the supercar comparison and taking off from your garden or local parking lot.
Their target customer doesn't seem to be your typical private helicopter bloke.

Interesting ideas from a design perspective.
They have a lot to do. Aircraft, engine, automation, avionics etc.
Best get cracking boys.

A push/pull collective seems like a bit of a risk - trickier for transition with some serious muscle memory issues unless they get it right.

Fundamentally I push to go down and pull to go up in a helicopter. Be interesting to see how they resolve that Vs a traditional fixed wing throttle.

Forward and back collective! 214 did that years ago.

Good luck to them. The industry needs some modern thinking for a change. Even the latest cabs are old tech.

designing their own airframe, engine, drivetrain... that's going to be quite an accomplishment if they can do all of that. Especially in the timeline that they're suggesting!

All that glass but no opening windows or fresh air scoops designed yet. As soon as the doors are shut, they need aircon running or the occupants melt in the sun. An APU to run aircon might be needed, or else a dose of reality in the designer's Drambuie.

Inventing a new flight control system to go with their new engine and airframe, glad to see they aren't bothering to progress from known steps to unknown, they are just making the Quantum Leap. Oh, boy...

The interior looks a lot better than my car.

https://www.hillhelicopters.com/interior-concept

Hope the aircon is good. In warm climates an ipad goes thermal in no time.

Indeed..mine overtemped in Northamptonshire last week!

The iPad integration is a bit weird but using it instead of Garmin would lower the price. I do like the innovation used through the interior, though not a fan of displays directly in front of the pilot on a helicopter, but maybe they're low and non-obstructive. I hope they successfully make this and it becomes more than CGI.

Hmmm. That cyclic must have some interesting linkages behind the instrument panel, they would need to be linked to the left side for dual instruction as well. But how to do the collective on the left side in an armrest? Ergo, no dual controls possible.

They brag of having 5 seats full, full-size baggage, and "vast" amounts of fuel for long trips. How many small helos in existence can carry full pax and full fuel and a stash of bags? And where the heck does the fuel go, if the under-floor space has a bunch of folding wheels and the behind-cabin space is full of golf clubs?

A VFR machine doesn't need a panel in front of the left seat (no dual controls), and doesn't need such a high "eyebrow" over the panel, apart from shading the iPads.

Yes, it looks spoofy. I wonder how many design dreams will have to be left on the drawing board when the reality of building this thing happens.

He should'av gone for one of these cyclics.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....dba8fa3b73.png

Could be fly-by-wire Charles, the tech is mature enough.