Helicopter overhaul on the higher end.

[Xel]

Does helicopter overhaul costs keep growing in proportion to it's price and size or do higher end helicopters have longer life cycles? (Only referring to runtime/time limited parts)

[PRJ]

Typically overhauls for engines follow a different component schedule than the rest of the aircraft (with the exception of the Robinson). Higher end helicopters might have two engines (twice the cost) complex transmission couplers (very expensive to maintain) and so on. So, it depends on what you consider higher end...but yes, very expensive helicopters usually cost more money to maintain across their component lives. 

[Xel]

Interesting. By higher end I was referring to medium helicopters targeted at premium clientele like the ACH145

[PRJ]

Here is an example from online you might use:

Based on 450 annual owner-operated hours and $4.25-per-gallon fuel cost, the EC 145 T2 has total variable costs of $519,268.50, total fixed costs of $276,541.50, and an annual budget of $795,810.00. This breaks down to $1,768.47 per hour.

A somewhat similar ship, a Bell 429, works out as follows: Based on 450 annual owner-operator hours and the same fuel costs, the Bell 429 has a total variable cost of $432028.12, total fixed costs of $133,285.00, and an annual budget of $565,313.12. This breaks down to $1,256.25 per hour. 

I honestly don’t know enough about the P&W engine vs the Turbomeca engines to say which has a better overhaul schedule. 

 

[TomPPL]

Some interesting facts there PRJ, thanks for posting!

[PRJ]

Just lucky with my Google-fu. Of course, most of you know that mileage varies and the average higher end owner (which I assume means a rich person) won’t fly close to 450 hours a year.

[Xel]

Luckily, I ended up running into a person that met the criteria of 'Rich corporate meeting go-er' but unfortunately he didn't own the helicopter instead leased it. I did get a rounded off hourage of 505 hours a year STRICTLY in business usage(3 hours back and forth every 4 days a week, Lack of usage during Vacation accounted for). So if someone owned one, I'd assume they'll put in about 50ish hours in recreation. 

So the EC145 T2 Would cost around 981,500$ a year and the Bell 429 would cost 697,218$ a year.

 

I wonder what type of money a person has to bring in annually to justify flying over half the country almost every other day at the cost of 500,000$-1,000,000$ per year

Over the course of 10 years (The general life-cycle of a Heli before an overhaul is needed) the EC145 T2 would cost 18,215,000$ (Price new + Budget x 10) while the Bell 429 would cost 13,372,180$

[Xel]

And on that note How realistic is the costs 'sampled' by Bell? (Eurocopter/Airbus doesn't have costs speculated for the EC145 T2)

[Disguise Delimit]

My previous boss had 3 choppers, one of which was an S-76, and the budget for it was $4500 an hour, based on 250 hrs a year. One time it flew for 2 hrs to convey only 12 meat pies to where the boss wanted to eat them.