Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

If you think that was good read the other post....

Lunar

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

on a serious note i've heard that the robinson r66 has a single turbine engine total 5 seat capacity and will be in production by 2009.

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

I heard it was going to be a single rotor design - one rotor with a couterweight to balance it, and lots of padding...
maybe a twin rotax?

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

Just got the first picture...


http://www.justchildsplay.co.uk/imag...ctImage_id=656

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

And...A large folder to hold all the AD,s and Pilot Alerts. Hopefully a proper rotor system!

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

There's actually going to be a T-bar from the ceiling on the R66, and it isn't going to have skids at all - Frank has teamed up with the company that made the bumpers for 1998 Audis - the whole underside of the cabin will be made of the stuff, eliminating the need for floats as well. He's also incorporating a "bumping hinge" into the rotor mast (Dave Jackson has the details here)
Power will come from a "turbine-diesel compound engine". Taking advantage of the hot, high-pressure exhaust gases, which still contain plenty of oxygen, additional fuel will be injected into the exhaust manifold, driving a 2-stage axial turbine. The output from the turbine will run into a combining gearbox (again, Dave Jackson has info here). :E

Finally, Frank revealed that the website "bladeslapper.com" is actually run by Pathfinder Insurance - an effort to put forth a kinder, gentler face to the helicopter pilot fraternity.

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

If it is a 5 seater, why the hell are they calling it an R66?
R22= 2 seats , R44= 4 seats , R66= 5 seats.....:confused:
Maybe Frank :8 has something against odd numbers?
Or are we talking about Pax seats?

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

About the t bar cyclic.......
Why is it that so many people hate it? I think it is actually great. But it looks totally stupid I agree. But anybody, big or small, will be able to have his hand comfortably resting on his leg while other sticks just don't offer you that. And it makes getting into the cockpit a hell of a lot easier......right?
By the way, Frank (or is it another company?) is offering the a conversion kit to have a "normal" cyclic stick. Unsure if only for the R22 or the R44 as well.

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

Robinson always tell you the reason for the T-bar is to keep the weight down, no unnecessary duplication of control rods.

The one size fits all works until a tall person teaches an umpalumpa (spulling) and the instructor ends up looking like he/she is divining for ability with the ugliest twig! It also kills the arm for about the first 100 hours, always having your arm in that position, you look like you are having a fit. Still though I loved throwing the 22 and the 44 around the sky.

Flingwing207, very nice reply but I thing you missed the fact that the engine (s!) will be a new and different hybrid honda diesel turbine engine with reverse flow technology instead of suck, squeeze, bang and blow it will just blow and then go bang. But this time when it does go bang it won't be the good old con rod....

Lunar

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production. You are all wrong
 

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

where's the photograph?!

jacob.

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

http://www.helipost.com/photo/R44-44.jpg
This of course being the long awaited R666 prototype.:hmm:

to quote a well known comedy series
 

Old man: [staring at a portrait of Kramer] A loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't take my eyes away. :D

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

Great pic flingwing,
I would imagine that the mast fairing on the R66 would have to be at least 15ft tall with no less than 250 dash 6 pan head screws to hold it in place, 16 drive belts, another 2 or 4 bearings in the tail rotor gearbox output shaft and a cooling fan the size of a tractor tyre. And as a standard it will come with a torque wrench that weighs 50kg's and two steroid pumping mexicans to obtain the required 750ft/lb tq for the fan nut. Not to mention some great new rodends and bushes to be replaced at regular intervals at substantial cost and a tail rotor guard that I'm sure will eventually look like one of those wriggly straws you got when you were a kid.
Should be a great machine!
The R22 is an abselutely sensational machine and that's where he should have stopped.

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

Don't agree, the R44 is a better bit of kit than the R22.

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

I agree with Lunar. But Frank could have made more friends by making a fully articulated rotor system. Hell, he's making sooo much money, he would have made up for it a long time ago.

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

Bitmonx

True, and I would have loved to fly it but when I was on the safety course they repeated their mantra over and over and I can still hear it. Keep it light, keep it simple and keep it cheap. Articulation is not cheap, easy or simple.

If we had a wish list back when I flew Robinson, it would have been more power (get me out of the trouble I just got myself in) , more blades (make it smoother and no low G worries) and give it some more blade inertia (do I need to explain that one?).

In the end of the day he made an aircraft that was an option to the 269/300 and the competition has only helped both aircraft. It meant a lot of us who couldn't go the military route could do what we always wanted.

Lunar

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

I completely agree lunar. And the wish list could even go on and on forever not only about Robinsons......
Let's hope Frank is not rushing out a new bird like he did with the R44 Astro. I used to own a Clipper S/N0324 which was a total hangar queen. I got lucky that my ship flew 1000 hrs./year and got almost half the bird replaced under warranty. Many people now are stuck with the Astro and without a major money investment even when overhauled at the factory are unable to upgrade their bird to a hydraulic one.:yuk: Correct me if I'm wrong on that.......

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

Bitmonx,

Not sure about the conversion of Astro to Hydraulic. I flew quite a few Astro's but having started on Ravens I didn't like the Astro much. If you are in the US there are a few companies you could talk to about the conversion.

Having said that I'd be more tempted to dump an Astro and just buy a Raven, It is usually possible to sell old Astros to first time buyers and schools (due price) but remember the old wisdom, never fly (buy) an A model....

Lunar

Re: Hot Gossip On R66 Production
 

The R66 will
- most probably be a turbine ship. They wanted to do a deisel but there's too much weight penalty.
- be a 5-seater
- be called the R66, because Frank wants it to be called the R66
- look substantially like an R44, and probably fly like one too
- have a t-bar cyclic
- sell by the boatload, and give Bell and EC fits on their low end markets, and make the Enstrom/Schweizer turbine models redundant
- be denigrated by some pilots for the rest of time, just as the R22/R44 are
"Mark my words". :}
Dave Blevins
P.S. I'm wondering if that twin rotor shown earlier in this thread could be a alternative to the V-22 :E .