New Robinson R66??

On Mon, 01 Mar 2004 18:00:51 -0800, wrote:

I've seen mention of this several times over the last few months. Frank
Robinson always denies that they're working on a turbine ship. Yet, the
rumor continues... It will be interesting to see if anything actually
comes of it.

From a business perspective, I can't see the point in Robinson doing
this, unless they can somehow bring in a competitive ship at a
significantly lower price and DOC.. They seem to be doing just fine,
building as many R44s as they can, and maintaining a many-month
backlog. Frank seems to've found his niche building three-person,
reasonably fast helicopters - why would he want to try to delve into the
turbine world?

Dave Blevins

He doesn't. That new Raven-II is a jewel to fly. The hydraulic
actuator control system is wonderful. It's 35 knots faster than the
Jet Ranger and burns half the fuel, plus it's 100 low lead. Now that
they have put some altitude performance into it, I doubt that Frank is
thinking about a turbine at all.

Hell, the R-44 is almost maintenance free for the first 1000 hours.
The Lycocoming 540 is derated to the point it's not being taxed and if
treated right, will go to TBO with ease. Why would Frank want to
screw with a winning equation? There is a 5 month wait on the new
Raven-II (R-44) right now. Frank can't build em fast enough. And at
$350,000 a pop, they are really a good deal for a 130 knot ship that
carries 3 big people and will hover at 10,000 feet.

I like it so much, I wish I had one. It's really the answer to a lot
of dreams for many applications. Silver State Helicopters here in
Vegas is working on some really interesting proposals using that ship.
It will be interesting to see what Jerry comes up with. He has one
with a FLIR on it, a loud PA system and a 10 million candle power
light. It's used for police work right now and there are many other
applications for it that are just around the corner. Just watch.
That ship will outrun, and out perform a 206 for many applications.

BWB

35 kts faster where does that come from

On 02 Mar 2004 15:25:08 GMT, ojunkm
(Stevenatherton) wrote:

35 kts faster where does that come from

The airspeed indicator. I fly then both. I usually get about 95
knots out of the Ranger and 130 out of the R-44 Raven-II. Hell if I
know where it comes from. It's just comes.

BWB

"Badwater Bill" wrote in message
...
On 02 Mar 2004 15:25:08 GMT, ojunkm
(Stevenatherton) wrote:

35 kts faster where does that come from

The airspeed indicator. I fly then both. I usually get about 95
knots out of the Ranger and 130 out of the R-44 Raven-II. Hell if I
know where it comes from. It's just comes.

BWB




I'm not that up on the specifics of both these machines but some things that
come to mind a

1. Superior power to weight figures. That one's hard to believe when
comparing turbines to pistons but.......?

2. Better aerodynamics

Just a thought,
Fly Safe,
Steve R.

This is not the first time these R66 rumors have come out right before
Heli-Expo. I remember about 2yrs ago there were speculations around about it
as well. Turns out that was when the Raven II was being worked out. I think
he'd be smarter to stick with pistons, but if he could come up with a way to
haul 5 people it would be pretty marketable. I know a guy who has a 44 and a
B206 flying tours with them. He said the 44 hardly ever gets flown because you
never have a group of 3 people who want to fly.
davdirect