Hiller 12B/C

[Ak Kelly]

Hello,

I'm in the market for a personal helicopter, looking at Enstrom F28A and a Hiller 12B/C is there a clear advantage of one over the other. Thanks

[RDRickster]

I recently flew an F28C, and I did NOT like that helicopter at all.  Of course, the track and balance was a bit off, so I may be overeacting.  I haven't flown the Hiller, but I like the 280FX pretty well.

[Ak Kelly]

RD thanks for response,  I,m looking at an  Enstrom Saturday the 6th, and a Hiller next week.  I'm pretty sure I will end up with Hiller.  The Alaska helicopter pilots I asked and a couple down south say hiller is the way to go at least the A model anyway.

[yzchopper]

If you plan on doing any work that requires lots of good power and need a hard working helicopter that can handle most jobs, then by all meens get a Hiller 12E. I worked with a guy who used the 12E for cropdusting and it was just a major work horse. The B/C models have less HP therefore can not carry as much of a load. If it was me I would buy the Hiller regardless of the model. Of course the helicopter would be strickly for personal use. I have heard that the Enstrom F28C is a good helicopter for personal use though. A guy I know had one for several years before he sold it and got his 206BIII, then bought a Huey just for drying his cherries. He still has the 206BIII, he uses that for cropdusting and personal flying. Good luck with your decision. :cheers:

 

Steve rotorheadsmiley

[Ga. Chopper]

I recently flew an F28C, and I did NOT like that helicopter at all.  Of course, the track and balance was a bit off, so I may be overeacting.

You most likely are over-reacting, "any" helicopter that has an out of track or balance condition will not only give a rough ride but will also be harder to fly. If properly tracked and balanced, the fully articlulated rotor system of an Enstrom is easy to fly and hard to beat!

 

I personally track and balance my own Enstrom (F-28C-2) with a Chadwick Vibrex 2000 and it is as smooth as glass, with the IPS at .02 to .04 in a hover and .04 forward flight at 100 mph. These excellent values are easy to achieve in this fully articulated rotor system and make my Enstrom a pleasure to fly in "all" speed regimes. Check out some of my other posts on the Enstrom forum.

 

I would say that "any" model Hiller has more power than an "A" model Enstrom. Whereas the "C", "F" and "FX" model Enstroms have about the same power as all Hillers except for the "E" model. I have to agree that the Hiller 12E has the  power advantage for commercial work.

 

::rotorhead::