The major buzz for the company at Heli-Expo 2010 was around the R66 Turbine. For the first time since the project was announced, the new model actually assumed some floor space at the Robinson exhibit, for all to see. Besides the fact that United States Federal Aviation Administration certification is expected to occur “soon,” the big news was that RHC has set the introductory price at $770,000 US.
Although company founder and president Frank Robinson has always maintained the price of the R66 would be somewhere between the R44 Raven II and the Bell JetRanger (which was roughly $1 million at the time the R66 was announced), most of us probably expected that “in between” number to be closer to the high side of that range. Of course, Frank Robinson, at RHC’s Heli-Expo press conference, stated, “There’s no guarantee that the price will stay there.” The chuckles in the room were an indication there was strong belief the price certainly would not stay there.
The preliminary specifications for the five-place R66 are as impressive as the price. Gross weight will be 2,700 pounds, with a standard empty weight of 1,280 pounds. While this includes the basic avionics standard on all Robinsons, one can expect that additional avionics, plus air conditioning (which is already in development), will push the empty weight to a little over 1,300 pounds. Still, with maximum fuel of 73.6 US gallons (493 pounds), this leaves a little over 900 pounds for people and baggage, even on a heavily equipped ship.
Right now, it looks like the R66 will be a 2,000-hour time-before-overhaul (TBO) helicopter. According to RHC vice-president Kurt Robinson, the company is still not sure of some time limits and TBOs — whether they will be based on hours, years or a combination of both. However, knowing that RHC loves keeping everything even, expect a single number overhaul requirement for the whole helicopter, similar to the R22 and R44 series.
With the R66 being powered by the Rolls-Royce RR300, developed initially for this application, cycle counting will now be added to the duties of the owner/operator. Rolls-Royce told me, though, that the hydromechanical unit of the engine has a HUMS (health and usage monitoring system) interface that runs for up to 2,000 hours and will record cycles.
In regards to an overall launch date, Frank Robinson stated RHC was working “as fast as possible” toward the primary FAA certification, but “we want to get it right.” In the meantime, it has added 137,000 square feet of new production space so manufacturing of the R66 will be ready to go as soon as FAA certification is received.
Also, as soon as certification is received, work will ramp up on the follow-up priorities. This will include air conditioning, which, as mentioned earlier, is in development, but has already been designed into the R66 and will start being installed early in the production run. Other short-list developmental items include pop-out floats and both an electronic news gathering and law enforcement version of the model.
Initial production will see two R66s a week, while the R22 and R44 models are expected to have a combined production run of six to eight units a week in 2010. As Kurt Robinson explained, “Our workforce is at around 1,000, down from a high of 1,400. We are still holding these 1,000 employees even though we used to do the 2010 projected production of six to eight per week with 800 employees. But because of the R66, we don’t want to lose any more of the good workforce we have. We want to hit the ground running.”
A few other notable news bits at RHC include the return to aluminum main rotor blades. The R66 has them now and the R44 will soon, followed by the R22. Anyone operating a current model need not worry, as this will not impact the use of the stainless steel blades now in service.
Finally, having known Frank Robinson for decades, I am aware that he loves to have fun with the press – it’s sport for him. To wit, when I asked for his take on the problem of the ultimate demise of 100LL avgas, he replied with a wry grin, “What problem?” He then slipped a look toward the R66 and said, “There’s one answer.” Then he got a little more serious and indicated RHC was taking a wait-and-see attitude on the avgas situation. He opined that even if the octane rating of the newer proposed unleaded avgas was a bit lower, the R22s and R44s would have no problem operationally. He also indicated that a good, reliable, lightweight diesel engine was the real answer – and was still a maybe in the Robinson line evolution.