Vygg wrote:


Guy Alcala wrote:

snip

I haven't seen anything in the press on any 609 sales.


AvLeak has covered the a/c a fair amount, as have other sources. Here's a
site which I think is fairly current:

http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/ba609/

or you can go to Bell's own website.

Guy


Hmm. It'll be interesting to see how many are actually bought. Judging
from the reduction in the number of orders over the years and the amount
of the deposit, it sounds as if none of the "advanced orders" are firm
sales, yet. The deposits were just to hold the customer's place in line
- it happens all the time with commercial airline orders. They can pull
out at any time. Apparently, some already have.

IIRC, there was an initial $10,000 place-holding deposit, which (I think) was
refundable. Once the a/c flew, progress payments were required starting with the
first $100,000, which were _not_ refundable (don't quote me on that amount, as I'm
working off memory here; it might have been more, but almost certainly wasn't
less). The order drop-off came at the time of the V-22's problems, in 2001 or so.
I'd imagine that those drops came in two categories; the 'gee-whiz' orders, and
the serious companies that had to make equipment upgrades/replacements on a
timeline. The value of the 609 for certain missions hasn't changed for the
serious helo transport companies, and indeed, several of them along with Bell and
the FAA are involved in writing the new Vertical Lift FAR certification
requirements. In short, they're in no doubt about the potential benefits, and
have made a realistic assessments of the risks. They know the a/c will work, the
only issue is being able to overcome customers' irrational fears based on
media-hype.

I'm curious as to what Greg Norman wants with one. Status symbol? It'll
certainly top all of those movie stars and their Hummers. ;-)

He does have a lot of business interests, so I guess having the same mobility as
the various corporations that signed up to buy a/c makes reasonable sense for
him. And it's still a lot cheaper than Travolta's collection;-)

Guy