Hot new helicopter/rotorcraft news

[Lawman]

Yes. I know a few guys back in the 2000’s who wanted to shift to something bigger and fly the -53’s (and now one who went from the CH-47 to V-22’s). A lot of guys got bored with ass-and-trash flights in the -60 jump over to the rescue wings in the air guard. Some went for the QOL that goes with having a commission in the AF, especially basing opportunities, but all had a college degree. None that I know switched to fixed wing, but I guess it is possible. I also imagine that now the army has lengthened its flight obligation to 10 years it happens a lot less.

It opens and closes at times.

I was exploring it to go toward the CV-22 at a time in my career where I could have gotten the Army to let me go, but the AF was closed to new people so ended up missing the wave to jump on.

I do know 2 Army pilots who went to AF fixed wing but both were guard. One ended up in Hawgs only to lose that ticket to RPAs, and the other went to a tanker squadron. They really didn’t do anything different than the average person rushing, they just had some extra proof on their record.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Nice video from the inside of a new R66.... (Operating in @Griz882 AO?)

 

[ChuckMK23]

Talk about longevity in an airframe. The Chinook soldiers on in production!

https://defence-blog.com/boeing-to-build-60-ch-47f-helicopters-for-germany

 

[Randy Daytona]

Talk about longevity in an airframe. The Chinook soldiers on in production!

https://defence-blog.com/boeing-to-build-60-ch-47f-helicopters-for-germany

Replacing older twin engine Sikorsky CH-53’s. The new 53K appears, at 88,000 lbs, to be just too big (and expensive) for most nations while the 55,000 lb Chinook seems to be right sized - and with a much larger support base.

Sikorsky is really having problems: S-76, S-92 and H-53 not selling well and the Blackhawk now being replaced by Bell’s tilt-rotor.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Replacing older twin engine Sikorsky CH-53’s. The new 53K appears, at 88,000 lbs, to be just too big (and expensive) for most nations while the 55,000 lb Chinook seems to be right sized - and with a much larger support base.

Sikorsky is really having problems: S-76, S-92 and H-53 not selling well and the Blackhawk now being replaced by Bell’s tilt-rotor.

Leonardo is eating everyone's lunch with respect to traditional helicopters.

 

[Griz882]

Replacing older twin engine Sikorsky CH-53’s. The new 53K appears, at 88,000 lbs, to be just too big (and expensive) for most nations while the 55,000 lb Chinook seems to be right sized - and with a much larger support base.

Sikorsky is really having problems: S-76, S-92 and H-53 not selling well and the Blackhawk now being replaced by Bell’s tilt-rotor.

Maybe they should pull something off the boards for a light turbine training helicopter?

 

[Randy Daytona]

Leonardo is eating everyone's lunch with respect to traditional helicopters.

Maybe in the medium twin segment with the AW-139, but I would wager Airbus is selling the most in the light twin / single market.

Norway just gave up on the NH90 and appears to be buying Blackhawks.

Norway’s Sorry NH90 Helicopter Saga Finally Comes To An End

Having extricated itself from a messy dispute with the manufacturer, Norway is the latest customer to turn its back on the troubled NH90. Having extricated itself from a messy dispute with the manufacturer, Norway is the latest customer to turn its back on the troubled NH90.

www.twz.com

 

[phrogdriver]

Leonardo is eating everyone's lunch with respect to traditional helicopters.

Really? How do you figure?

Any examples outside AHTS and the Phillipines trainers?

Leonardo can hardly give its helicopters away on the commercial market, where AB has the largest share, followed by Bell. Bell sells out the 505 and 407 lines every year. Its backlog on the 412 is long as well.

The Lynx and Wildcat do okay in non-H60 Navies, but that's hardly "eating everyone's lunch." It shares the NH90 debacle with AB, to the dismay of both.

The H145M is outfitting many of the countries that weren't already getting Apaches. The 225 and 215 are prolific in European militaries.

Am I missing something?

 

[Lawman]

Really? How do you figure?

Any examples outside AHTS and the Phillipines trainers?

Leonardo can hardly give its helicopters away on the commercial market, where AB has the largest share, followed by Bell. Bell sells out the 505 and 407 lines every year. It's backlog on the 412 is long as well.

The Lynx and Wildcat do okay in non-H60 Navies, but that's hardly "eating everyone's lunch." It shares the NH90 debacle with AB, to the dismay of both.

The H145M is outfitting many of the countries that weren't already getting Apaches. The 225 and 215 are prolific in European militaries.

Am I missing something?

Point of order…

They only got in with the Philippines because of the stupidly ignorant statements of an Army Infantry Col at an Embassy dinner.

We had the Phils lined up as the first customer for the 58 divestment under AVFID, and they were simultaneously going to acquire a significant 2 digit number of TH-67s to function as their functional trainer for all rotary wing (until then dudes never hovered until they showed up to a helicopter unit). Essentially they realized this would simultaneously jump them into a precision munition game post their friendly fire incidents in Zamboanga, and get them an NVG compatible crew station instead of the whacky way we had configured a specific set of “night capable” aircraft using Chem lights and steam gauge manipulation so all the needles pointed a cardinal direction when in operational range.

Dude mouthed off to Gen Del Gado in front of the then president about how 58s were worthless based off his experience in RC-East Afghanistan and Leonardo swooped in to snag the buy out from under us while the JUSMAG office did damage control.