Heli Air has taken delivery of a Robinson R66 helicopter, the first aircraft of this type to be placed on the UK register. The operator will be flying the R66 for Hawesbates LLP in Buckinghamshire.

“We have been helping Robinson Helicopters with EASA liaisons, and have been the European driving force to get the 66 certified,” says sales and marketing director Brian Kane. “Heli Air has written the flight training manual for the type conversion; we had one guy on the case for six weeks writing the manual. Our technical director John has been in constant liaison with the factory and EASA.”

Kane believes that the R66 will flourish as a low cost, entry level single engine turbine machine. “Its running costs are as low as you could possibly get, the lowest in that sector in terms of maintenance. It has maintenance every 100 hours from new, and it also has an annual check,” he says. “It burns about 20 to 21 US gallons of Avtur an hour, compared with other single engines that burn 26 or 28. It carries more than its own dry weight.

“Last weekend we took it with five passengers, full fuel, full luggage for two overnight stays with no problems whatsoever. The 66 is an extremely capable machine. No other small single engine can match its five passenger capability in my opinion – the Jet Ranger can’t and neither can the EC120. Those that can are three times the price.”

The R66 will retail at roughly US$900,000, and offers low running, capital and insurance costs. Heli Air is anticipating that it will be very successful in the charter market.

Continues Kane: “Nine out of ten charters are for four people, be it two couples or a couple and two children. Historically, the R44 can only carry three, so you’d have to go to a Jet Ranger or a 120, and they don’t have the capabilities to carry the weight, whereas the 66 does.

“Without any shadow of a doubt I think our investment in the R66 will prompt other UK operators to do the same. Once the operators become wise to what it can do – for so little money compared with the competition – they will want it. This is not just a big 44: it is noticeably wider, longer and higher, but with Rolls Royce RR300 turbine engines, currently de-rated and running at 280 horsepower, it is not under stress.”

Having devised a type rating, Heli Air is currently rating its own pilots and instructors, and reports that no less than 50 individuals are on a waiting list for type ratings, including a mix of owners and operators from the UK and mainland Europe. The operator is in the process of converting further R66s from the N to G register.

“Demand for the product is very positive,” concludes Kane. “It is a genuine success story. The 66 has stimulated the whole market, after a long period of stagnation. Interest has increased enormously in the last few weeks.”