EC120 Factory Course at Rotors

[RkyMtnHI]

removed for personal reasons

[Goldy]

Thanks for sharing. The 120 is one great looking ship ! The only negative I have ever heard was it was under powered in hot conditions...100-120F. ( what ship isnt !!?)

[EC120AV8R]

Thanks for the comment Goldy, that issue did come up in the class, especially at altitude with a full house.

 

dp

 

100 more HP and it would be about perfect. Even at sea level, with a FLIR, Nightsun, all the other LE bells and whistles, and a reasonable load of fuel, it can be a little anemic. Still, it's a great ship and I love it.

[ADRidge]

100 more HP and it would be about perfect. Even at sea level, with a FLIR, Nightsun, all the other LE bells and whistles, and a reasonable load of fuel, it can be a little anemic. Still, it's a great ship and I love it.

 

That's what I've heard as well. As I recall, a LE aviation buddy of mine said it essentially cut their flight time down to 2 hours without going over MGW, but they're in a hot/almost-high environment.

[justfly]

I will also add here that this helicopter is absolutely the quietest one i have ever been around, due mostly to the Fenestron i was told

LE in a city I'm frequently in used to use an MD 520N for patrol. I was impressed at the time how quiet (fly-over noise) the NOTAR made it compared to other helicopters. They have switched to using an EC120 and it floored me how much quieter this ship is than the NOTAR one. They often fly around lights-out and their presence is nearly undetectable if you're not paying attention.

 

Did the instructor talk about main rotor design and any efforts they may have made regarding its contribution to overall noise signature?

[justfly]

EC120 B Technical Data (PDF)

 

uhh... H.O.G.E. at Max GW & ISA +20°C ! (pages 23 & 27) ...looks like that's a limit that deserves respect!

 

But it does look like a sweet ship!

[EC120AV8R]

LE in a city I'm frequently in used to use an MD 520N for patrol. I was impressed at the time how quiet (fly-over noise) the NOTAR made it compared to other helicopters. They have switched to using an EC120 and it floored me how much quieter this ship is than the NOTAR one. They often fly around lights-out and their presence is nearly undetectable if you're not paying attention.

 

Did the instructor talk about main rotor design and any efforts they may have made regarding its contribution to overall noise signature?

Noise reduction is achieved primarily due to the fenestron. The fenestron blades are asymmetrical which eliminated the "fenstron whine" associated with the Dauphine. If you fly it out of trim you can get the whine, and it sounds like a wood chipper. I never thought the NOTAR was particularly quiet, it just sounded like someone flying a giant hair dryer.

[heyitischris]

RkyMtnHI:

I believe the term you are looking for is tapered, parabolic main rotor blade tips.

 

 

 

Wait until you see the new EC120 I sold to a customer coming out of the Grand Prairie, TX factory soon in the Cornhuskers paint scheme. This one should be a real head turner. I will ask my customer if i can release the paint rendering to post on this string.

 

The EC120 is not designed specifically to be a hot & high altitude helicopter and we have the B2 & B3 which serves that purpose. It has been designed to compete with the 206B3 (out of production) & the MD500 & offers comparable performance.

 

If you guys need any information on our Eurocopter helicopters please feel free to ask me and I will do my best to answer to the best of my knowledge.

 

 

Chris

[helicodger pilot]

The 333 is up and running, will get in it asap!

 

Well, RkyMtnHi, I beat you to it. Friday afternoon I got my first hour as PIC in a turbine powered helicopter, being in this case Rotors' Schweizer 333. I just passed my CPL (h) add-on checkride the week before and have been wanting to give the 333 a try - but not until I'd gotten the flight test out of the way. So with that out of the way and a whopping 125 hours logged in the 300C I hopped into the 333 with Mike to see what an extra 90 HP can do.

 

The starting sequence for a tubine is a bit intimidating, not because it's all that complex or difficult, but due to the potential for doing some enormously expensive damage to a quarter-million dollar engine if you screw up. Tends to focus one's attention...

Once past that, I have to admit to being enough of a kid still to get a real thrill out of hearing that turbine whine ascending into the frequencies that only dogs can hear. For that moment anyway, you no longer even care what an hour in this baby costs- it's worth every dime!

 

With the rotor and N2 tach in the green, ATIS copied, and all the other usual chores done it was finally time to pull pitch and find out what a 300C on steroids is really like. And guess what? It's a lot like a 300C on steroids! Same control feel, same good handling charactaristics, just a nice comfortable, familiar feel to the ship. It was a bit odd to NOT be adjusting the twist grip on the collective and to be watching the torque gauge closely rather than Nr, and of course the instructor seat is about a 5 minute walk to the north of you (...W-I-D-E body...) but mainly the ship did just what I expected it to do, just when I expected it to do it. Visibility (except directly aft) is as good as the 300c, too despite the large center console. So, a short, comfortable hover taxi over to Bravo taxiway and it's time to go fly!

 

After a rather more enthusiastic climb-out than I'm used to we leveled out and Mike had me increase power gradually to see if we would hit the TOT or the torque limits first. Conditions on Friday were such that both gauges got to the yellow arc at the same time. At that power setting another difference between the 300C and the 330 became evident. The last time I saw the airspeed indicator on a 300C over 100 KIAS at 7000' MSL was - well, never. But the Rolls engine urges the triple-3 along quite smartly, thank you. We weren't trying to evaluate cruise speed so didn't try to get real precise about temps, speeds, pressure altitude and such but my impression is that you need to pay attention or you'll blow right past the 104 Kt VNE. Not fast compared to other turbine helicopters, the EC120 being the obvious comparison in this thread, but keeping in mind the frame of reference - 300C - it's not too shabby.

 

Back at the airport getting slowed down for the approach - or should I say NOT getting slowed down - again emphasized that the 333 is a lot slipperier than the 300C. (Makes sense, I guess. A tuna is more streamlined than a dragonfly... ) From my fixed wing days I'd say it's like the difference between a Cessna 172 and a V35 Bonanza- you have to plan ahead a little more. I even had to do a mini quick-stop manuever on downwind once to get set up for the approach profile (try that in your Bonanza!) but once I got the speed and power down where they belonged the rest was a non-event.

 

From a low-time pilot's viewpoint I'd have to say that so far, (and I'm well aware that it takes more than one whole hour to become competent) the transition from 300C piston power to 333 turbine power seems like and pretty easy step. At $595 an hour (wet with CFI) it's nearly double the cost of the 300C so most folks won't want to do their entire training in the 333, but as far as I'm concerned I got my $$$ worth and I'm going to fly it some more.

Just as soon as I find my hammer and piggy bank.