R-22 Gets credit....

[klmmarine]

The Military Channel series Greatest Ever, did their Greatest Ever Helicopters episode tonight. The R-22 was ranked 2nd behind the UH-1 as the greatest helicopters ever made. They cited commercial success, number of aircraft produced, and prolification of use, and accessiblity to the public as reasons for its rank.

 

10. Skycrane

9. Llama

8. Chinook

7. Jet Ranger

6. Sea King

5. Lynx

4. Mil-26

3. Apache

2. R-22

1. Huey

 

Let the debate begin anew.....

[ADRidge]

I love the double deuce, but really? Come on now. Better than the Apache?!

[Goldy]

The Skycrane and the Jet Ranger deserve to be in the top 5. A lot more 206's out there than there are R22's, and the R44 didnt even make the list !

 

What's the most popular commercial helo right now? I would venture to say its the AStar 350...also not on the list.

 

Goldy

[HeliHelvig]

I was going to start a topic to ask if anybody else watched the show too. I was surprised to see the Air-Crane at the number 10 spot and the R-22 all the way in second place.

 

It was really cool seeing the crane though, "Ichabod", since I actually got an up close tour of that same ship last week over at Van Nuys. It was amazing seeing just how big it actually is. 330 lb rotor blades. Huge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lestat210]

didn't see the show...but really, the Blackhawk didn't even make the list? huh?

[Witch]

Maybe the Blackhawk isn't all it's cracked up to be.

 

 

 

 

I know...Blaspheme.

 

 

 

Later

[klmmarine]

The Skycrane and the Jet Ranger deserve to be in the top 5. A lot more 206's out there than there are R22's, and the R44 didnt even make the list !

 

What's the most popular commercial helo right now? I would venture to say its the AStar 350...also not on the list.

 

Goldy

 

 

They mentioned the R44 as the R22's "Big Brother" and showed several shots of it during the segment so I think that they just generalized it as another Robinson.

 

I totally agree that the Jet Ranger belongs in the top 5. And I would venture that there are still WAY more 206 series aircraft in commercial use than Astars, but who knows.

[Hella Copter]

I'm annoyed that they didn't include any coaxial helicopters. The Ka-50 is quite an engineering feat.

 

The R-22? Sure its cheap to fly and operate but I wouldn't consider it great. Just because its popular doesn't mean its great.

[ADRidge]

The R-22? Sure its cheap to fly and operate but I wouldn't consider it great. Just because its popular doesn't mean its great.

 

I'd venture to say that its low operating cost and it's 2200 hour TBO make it great. The 22 was a pretty revolutionary feat of piston helicopter engineering, but I would probably put it at number 8 or 9.

[Darren Hughes]

At least the Huey's in it's rightful place!

[adam32]

No BlackHawk!? No 500's!? No Bell 47's!? But the R22 makes the cut!! Come on now! Besides production numbers the R22 doesn't even make the top ten...not even close!!

[klmmarine]

I didn't make the list I only reported it....

 

I would have been happy to see either of the Robinson ships anywhere in the top 10 as I believe that they have totally changed the Civil Helicopter industry. But I agree that they ranked it a little too high on the scale. They apparently picked aircraft that were exceptional for one specific reason or another. The Skycrane because of its versatility, and unique design, the Lynx because of its maneuverability, the Sea King because of its all-weather capability, the R-22 because of its low cost, efficiency of maintenance, and comparitive accessiblity to the masses.

 

There are lots of aircraft that they COULD have featured, but that would have taken a mini-series to produce. (are there any producers out there listening? )

[Goldy]

It was really cool seeing the crane though, "Ichabod", since I actually got an up close tour of that same ship last week over at Van Nuys. It was amazing seeing just how big it actually is. 330 lb rotor blades. Huge.

 

Yeah, I saw that ship last week when I was over there checking out Fire3, the newest of the 139's. Ichabod was going back to Canada for a new contract so they were prepping the replacement ship to take its place. ....so for that one day they had all 3 AirCranes on the tarmac ( Canadian Ichabod, new LA City and LA County contract ships)..it was Aircrane day at Van Nuys!

 

Throw in the 2 new 139's, ( Fire 3 and Fire 5) the command 206L and the 2- 412's and it was one full hangar and tarmac.

 

I have some pictures of the 139 with all the glass panels lit up ( oops.....did I hit that switch by accident???!!!)

 

I'll post em in a new post along with the memorial service I was attending there..

 

Goldy

[brushfire21]

Don't you just hate it when your elbow accidentally "bumps" the wrong switch.

 

But i have to agree, the 22 in the #2 spot? Oh well can't wait to see the episode when it reruns. But have to agree on the Huey being in the #1 spot, that is a perfect spot for it for many years to come!