The other day I had the chance to pilot a Robinson R22 helicopter and took the opportunity for an in-depth examination of how this thing is made and functions.
It’s ridiculously small, so small that you first think you can carry it under your arm and doubt you can fit inside. Well, it is actually quite comfy and a lot of fun to fly. Not that difficult actually — if you have somebody next to you that can save it should you lose control.
Now I am wondering why they are so incredibly expensive to rent. From what I understood, the Robinson helicopters become almost scrap after 12 years or 2000h, whichever is first and then they have to go back to the manufacturer to come out almost new. So the purchase price directly reflects how many hours/years are left. The outfit I spoke to told me the 2000h are always first for their so the very low time limit is not a factor for their business.
Say it costs €200,000 to reset the R22 to 0h, that would be €100/h for the airframe. They have a downrated O-360 which is always operated full rich but not as rich as full rich would be in an aircraft. The engine usually operates between 75-100% BHP, let’s say the average is 38 l/h. That would be say 90 €/h at German AVGAS prices which puts us at 200 €/h.
The helicopter has 50 hour and 100h checks like an aircraft. According to several people I spoke to, the costs are similar to an airplane so let’s say another 20 €/h. This puts us at 220 €/h.
The charter offers I saw were around 390€/h. That is quite an uplift on the direct cost, much more than what you see for airplanes. Do helicopter charter outfits actually make a big margin or is there cost I didn’t see?
achimha wrote:
is there cost I didn’t see?
Added risk compared with fixed wing ?
Insurance rates are similar to airplanes and generally not a big factor, not more than 10€/h.
achimha wrote:
From what I understood, the Robinson helicopters become almost scrap after 12 years or 2000h, whichever is first and then they have to go back to the manufacturer to come out almost new.
What? wow. that explains a lot about the lot of them on planecheck who all have maybe 100-200 hrs left to fly. I was wondering about that, now it makes sense… but I do wonder why they have such a TBO for the whole airframe? Clever business scheme and engine overhaul business at large?
But I suppose this makes it clear why they are so expensive to rent. 100 Euros per hour only for the revision reserve so that makes 190 to actually operate it and make a profit… not that much of rocket science to see. Which comparable airplane can you rent for 190 Euros an hour?
Is that a Robinson thing or are all helicos like that?
I am flying helicopters for two years now, I helped two fellow aviators to acquire used turbine H120s and am helping three H120 owners to maintain their helicopters and help another two owners to maintain their R44. From the experience I can say that helicopters are quite different animals and you very often find yourself in a situation when you face big unexpected maintenance bills. I saw several 80K EUR bills, one 25K EUR bill etc. Even R44 very often brings high unexpected maintenance bills. R44 overhaul is over 250K USD, realistically close to 270K USD. Owning helicopter means that you live in constant fear of something breaking down. Also, flying helicopter is much more risky and things, which would be minor in fixed wing aircraft very often end in tragedy and or totaled ship. The insurance reflects this and is much more expensive than fixed wing. Cheap nad helicopter are antonyms.
What’s the charter rate for R22/R44 in the Czech Republic? Significantly cheaper or similar?
Mooney_Driver wrote:
Is that a Robinson thing or are all helicos like that?
Robinsons are a bit different in that pretty much the whole machine is designed to wear out at the same time in service, followed by a factory overhaul of the whole machine.
The Robinsons are very nice examples of American engineering. Surprisingly simple solutions to complex problems that for some reason actually work. A machine like that built in Germany or Japan would look radically different. Might also be more expensive 
The Cabri G2 looks like what engineers coming from the Eurocopter school come up with. The charter price is between R22 and R44 but it surely looks nice. Even with electronic/plasma injection for the O-360. A fantastic piece of not-so-cheap engineering.
Apparently, one of the biggest factors behind the high costs is the abundance of life-limited parts in helicopters. However, I’m told there is at least one exception to that – Enstrom 280/F28 family. @Pytlak, there seems to be a 280FX at DSA – have you by any chance heard any interesting facts about it?
achimha wrote:
The Robinsons are very nice examples of American engineering. Surprisingly simple solutions to complex problems that for some reason actually work.
I’m led to believe that some private helicopter people in the US prefer the Hughes/Schweizer 300, but the Robbie has certainly taken over the two-seat market and even more so the overseas taxi market where service may not be as widely available, and highly engineered life cycle is useful. For example, last I heard (a few years ago) South America was a huge helicopter market for Robinson.
