Why are helicopters so expensive?

There are on average, the same number of accidents per year for helicopters and fixed-wing GA aircraft in Belgium. The point is: there are six times more fixed-wing aircraft flying than helicopters. A friend of mine flew a Jetranger into the ground after avoiding high-tension wires, killing the entire family of 5. Another friend, on the other side of the pond, crashed his Jetranger on his ranch, he was severely burned himself and his wife was killed.

Bell 47s apparently have a large number of airworthiness ‘issues’, ADs etc, and are not supported well by Bell.

I’ve seen this one here recently.

http://www.planecheck.com?ent=da&id=37673

What are those like?

I notice that the R22 have really low payload.. so for many heavier built people it would be a single seater. Not much use then.

R44 rental in Czech Republic is around EUR460 plus VAT, which is most probably in line with other European countries as the heli economics is practically same everywhere, especially with Robinson where the costs are based on 12year/2200hr overhaul.

It is correct statement that DSA does have FX280 and other Enstrom machines as they are Enstrom dealer for Czech Republic. The mechanics say that it is real pain in the ass to work on Enstroms and it is extremely difficoult to track and balance their rotors. They are now trying to revive one old F28C and I see the machine out every day, the guys trying to set up the rotor correctly. One of the mechanic confessed that after they set the rotor according to maintenance manual, the machine did not autorotate on the first flight trial. Any real engine issue would equal fatal accident in that case. Enstrom is a very old design and it is definitely not the right way to go.

On the other side, there is Guimbal Cabri distributor for Czech Republic and Slovakia based at our airport (www.lion-helicopters.cz) and I confirm that Cabri is a lovely little machine, good trainer, which is a pleasure to fly. You can clearly see that the design comes from the same guy (Bruno Guimbal) who worked on the design of EC120B and it is much more modern so there is real generation gap between Enstrom and Guimbal.

Based on my brief experience with helicopters I would say that the way to go is Guimbal for two seater and H120 (EC120B) for 4/5 seats. You might own Guimbal and rent H120 for the occasions where you need more seats. The two machines are very similar in flight characteristics so it is easy to jump between them.

Low wing aircraft are even more unnatural.

A high-wing airplane is just a poor excuse for a low-wing flying upside down

achimha wrote:

Insurance rates are similar to airplanes and generally not a big factor, not more than 10€/h.

I don’t know about that.

Someone I know was thinking about doing their helicopter rating in the US, on a Bell 47 worth US$40K, the insurance was over $10k. A comparable value fixed wing taildragger would be about $800 to insure at the time.

JasonC wrote:

Find me something in nature that tries to fly that way?

Maple seeds are helicopters in autorotation!

Helicopters are unnatural spawn of the devil that are only ever one fastner from a crash. Find me something in nature that tries to fly that way? :)

But more seriously I gather it is all around the vastly more expensive scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

Why are helicopters so expensive?

Because the market will take it.