Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Glenn Stracey on August 15, 2011 at 4:02pm

That's the joy in having a helicopter and also a Robinson product. The difference with your friends EC120 is that it is still worth in excess of £650,000 with 2200 hours on it.
The Robinson product is only noticeably cheaper if you fly all the 2200 hours within the 12 years but they do a good job in providing 4 seat cost effective flying for self fly hirers compared to the 206, 120 etc.

Permalink Reply by Mark Wallis on September 1, 2011 at 3:44am

AOG on August 8 and still in bits on the ground ......

Glenn, my problem would have been finding the money for anything other than an R44! Maybe a '70s JetRanger but it wouldn't earn me enough to pay the bills. I know a chap who bought a very cheap A109 but I dare not imagine how much that costs to keep in the air.

Permalink Reply by Mark Wallis on September 15, 2011 at 6:25am

Back in the air 8 September after exactly a month on the ground, what a waste. Yes Glenn, the 206 was nice but pricey and not that common now, the EC120 is much the same but easier to come by I think. All our hours will be gone by 12 years with near certainty!

Permalink Reply by Adam Miller on September 15, 2011 at 8:58am

Congratulations Mark - its always hard when a bird is down for such a long time!! The longing to be up there, when you are sat on the ground - never a good feeling

Permalink Reply by Mark Wallis on September 19, 2011 at 1:25pm

That fix, for a faulty part Robinson put on my helicopter, has just cost me 37.735849 hours of flying. If it were a car they would have recalled it and fixed it at their cost.

Permalink Reply by Adam Miller on September 19, 2011 at 2:13pm

Dont you just love aviation!!!

Permalink Reply by Turbo Ed DArcy on October 19, 2011 at 6:24am

you want to play, you gota pay. helis are the most fun and the most $$$$$$$$$$

 

we held off till oct yo do the SB. most of the flying is done for the season. the SB didnt need to be done right away. 

 

the rebuild is not very complicated. i saw a kit. it basically replaces the end plates so there is a drain plug to drain and check the oil for contamination. 

 

Permalink Reply by Mark Wallis on October 25, 2011 at 10:57am

I just checked SB79, it's dated 20 December 2010 and says:

At next 100-hour or annual inspection, whichever occurs first.

That doesn't give most folk long to do it. Never mind, it's pennies compared with new main blades and bladder tanks so let's get saving now!

 

Permalink Reply by Glenn Stracey on October 27, 2011 at 2:31pm

Hi Mark,

how do you know it's going to be a £10,000 job?

Have you had the inspection done yet?

What is the hourly rate of your maintenance facility?

Cheers,

Glenn.

Permalink Reply by Mark Wallis on October 28, 2011 at 3:13am

Hi Glenn, £10k was the estimate, it turned
out to be £16k which as you can guess I was annoyed about. The part is $7600 alone I think. The maintenance organisation took about 50% longer than another quote I had but it was already in bits by then. They charge £70/hr, we do have a core refund to come back but I doubt that will be much, I also got £723 back from the insurance for it being
'rotors not in motion' for a month. I'll shop around properly when it comes to
doing the bladder tanks (and trust my safety to the lowest bidder as NASA said)

Permalink Reply by Glenn Stracey on October 28, 2011 at 4:42am

£6000 over estimate.  Was there an explanation as to why it cost so much more?

Have you ordered your bladder tanks yet or are you going to wait until it becomes compulsory?

If you want to take advantage of the cheaper order price it has to be done by December some time.