R22 New -6 main rotor blades

[Goldy]

Robinson has come out with their new blades, I think I mentioned them a year or so ago. Anyway, all aluminum with a wider chord near the tips, similar design to the R44 Raven II blades.

 

So, is anyone flying an R22 with these blades? Can you tell us how they compare to the older style?

 

I've heard good things but wanted to hear directly from pilots flying them.

[nightsta1ker]

Is this their answer to the de-bonding issues they have been having... again...?

[twest101]

A couple of our 22s have come out of overhaul with the new blades and i have to say there is a noticeable difference in the smoothness of the ride with the wider cord. Also its great not having to sign the blades off everyday because of that AD!

[lelebebbel]

I've flown about 40 or 50 hours in a Beta2 with the new blades. They seem to improve performance by quite a bit, especially in hover. There is also noticeably more inertia.

 

Can't really say to much about smoothness - if anything, I found the ride a bit rougher. Hard to say when a different person has done the T+B on the rotor, although the vibration was a 2-per bounce, which - as far as I know - shouldn't be much affected by the tracking.

 

Parked next to a machine with the -4 blades, you can see that the -6 droop less when the rotor is stopped, they must be a bit stiffer. Which could explain the slightly harsher ride.

[Goldy]

I wondered if anyone has documented the performance differences, but all I've heard so far is great things..

 

Thanks,

[Low Level Lover]

I think the reason there is less droop if in fact there is, is because the -6 blades have two doublers rather than just the one that the -4s have. Just a guess.

[Machinegun21]

We have the -6 blades on roughly half of our machines and so far they perform very well. I don't have any real "hard" data to back up my claims but I there is a noticeable difference.

 

To echo Lelebebbel: I do feel that they droop less than the -4 blades. I however feel that they are a bit smoother and they also have different sound when you first crank up.

 

Overall very nice blades and so far haven't noticed any problems. Hope this helps Goldy

[Goldy]

We have the -6 blades on roughly half of our machines and so far they perform very well. I don't have any real "hard" data to back up my claims but I there is a noticeable difference.

 

To echo Lelebebbel: I do feel that they droop less than the -4 blades. I however feel that they are a bit smoother and they also have different sound when you first crank up.

 

Overall very nice blades and so far haven't noticed any problems. Hope this helps Goldy

 

It all helps!I have a project where these may come in handy! I also found out that there were no changes to the POH or charts, basically just that these blades will perform at least as well as the previous ones. In reality, they seem to do a lot more than that!

 

I also think part of the less droop has to do with the fact that the blade skins are about 3 times thicker than the SS blades. That way, they won't dent so easily, which was one of the chief complaints of the SS blade. If I recall, aluminum weighs about 1/3 of stainless, so, they can make the blade 3x thicker for the same weight.

 

Then again, I could have just been dreaming it all.