Looking for advice/intel on the MD 530F

cherminator · September 13, 2017

Does anyone here have experience flying an MD 530F? I'm looking for opinions on it, especially for flying in the mountains, cost of ownership, reliability, etc.

Somebody here said in another post: "the 530F. Its a Scalpel that will allow you to get into some ridiculous places, but with that Rotor head, you are going to get your ass handed to you in the mtns. And that's fine so long as you are good with it, but you'll never get a passenger to do it with you twice."

What's the issue with that rotor head in the mountains? Is he implying you will get tossed around violently in turbulence?

cherminator · September 15, 2017

175 views and not one response. Is this some sort of a record?

All kidding aside, is there no one here with any 530F insight/experience?

500E · September 15, 2017

Not flown a 530 but in turbulent conditions prefer the 500series to a 206 or others I will not mention

cherminator · September 15, 2017

Thanks for your response 500E. I'm guessing the 530F is the same cabin as the 500 series? How is the ceiling height for tall people. Would a 6'2" guy with a helmet fit in the pilot seat?

Any notable expensive parts that need to be replaced periodically, other than the turbine?

MD's website says the 530F has a range of 260 NM, or 2.2 hours. Is this a real-world expectation or is it even less in actuality?

Eric Hunt · September 16, 2017

If you're that 6'2 guy, try to climb into the back seat, and see how much head room you have with that xmsn tunnel running past your ear.

Front seaters don't mind the machine, backseaters may have a different opinion.

cherminator · September 16, 2017

Thanks Eric.

I'm really only concerned about the front seats, especially the pilot seat, as 95% of the time I fly alone or with the wife or a friend. I fit with a helmet on no problem in an R66 and an EC130, but not in an R44,

The back seat would mostly be for cargo. On that thought, does anyone know if the back seats are removed easily and if so, are you left with a truly flat floor?

AS350 pilot · September 16, 2017

Most of my 500 time was in a D model but they are surprisingly fast! They are good in the mountains….not great but I'm sure the 530 would be better. The tail rotor authority wasn't good on a warm day above 6,000' but if you typically fly alone I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. I'm 6'2" and it is fine to fly but by no means is it comfortable. It seems that ships with thin main rotor blades don't do as well in high DA situations, but that's just my observation.

cherminator · September 16, 2017

The 530 HIGE and HOGE specs are a about double that of the 500 according to their website. Pretty impressive.

MD500E:

HIGE - 8500 FT

HOGE - 6000 FT

MD530F:

HIGE - 16,000 FT

HOGE - 14,400 FT

500E · September 18, 2017

Am 6'1 fly with a helmet the back seats are not the best, seats come out easily, flat floor on the C D &E.

cherminator · September 19, 2017

Thanks 500E. How is it to deal with MD these days for parts, etc? Are parts shipped out promptly?

I'd still like to know what the 530F is like when flying/landing in the mountains as that's what we mostly do up here in B.C.

500E · September 20, 2017

Parts seem to be hit & miss again the prices are Crazy i expect they are the same for all manufacturers but there is a limit.

MyMD Aero is a rip off as far as a number of us are concerned it used to be free.

Still not as bad as Schweitzer the problems with parts cost delivery dates running into hundreds they don't want or deserve customers

Boatpix · September 20, 2017

We operated an early 500 with the C18 engine of about 278 hp about 25 years ago. The C18 was designated as such because it would supposedly burn 18 gallons an hour. This was not a powerful or fast helicopter and you had to pull a lot of power to see performance. The C20 would burn about 20 gallons original as released.. As you know the C20R put out more power and would burn more fuel so that nomenclature of gallons per hour didn't mean what it formerly did. The C30 is just a more powerful engine and when put in that airframe it was designed for high altitude with some preferring the C20R over the C30 for low level flight. I've trained a number of people that have thousands of hours in the 500 series and one called me from Hawaii for my birthday the other day. I can put you in touch with him if you PM me or text me at 561-346-2816. My first helicopter flight was in 1986 in a Bell 206 and had some flying in the 500 also but the R22 Beta Mariner is our choice.

500F · October 9, 2017

The charts are right. The 530 does very well at altitude, but is not needed for A-B flights. If you are doing external loads above 5k get a 530. External loads in the 3-5k DA range, consider a C20R, Otherwise a D or E with a C20B is fine. Parts are all 99% avaiable through helimart. There are a few parts that are hard to find, mostly the stuff like T/R driveshaft with 10,000 hour life.

Flat floor.

They fly rough in turbulence but what aircraft doesn't?