Ever flown a helicopter you just don't like?

haha - I'm just afraid of the work required to make the transition from USAFR enlisted to USANG warrant. :/ Much as my quandry to seek an AF commission, a lot of work (okay, not really)...enough work...and not enough time for me to press pause on other priorities, both professionally and personally.
 
Ian J said:
........Anyone have a helicopter they just hate?
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I only flew it a couple times, but I hated the way the MD600 NOTAR flew, and was glad I didn't have to get formally checked out in it. Didn't care too much for the way the MD520N handled either, but got used to it, and it didn't fly nearly as bad as the MD600N. Yup, the R22 was/is "twitchy" and very sensitive on the controls, but it made every helicopter I flew after it (I learned on the R22) seem easy to fly, at least as compared to the R22. Don't know why anyone would hate an A-Star, I thought they flew, handled and auto-rotated very nicely. And it had air conditioning!
 
msw said:
I only flew it a couple times, but I hated the way the MD600 NOTAR flew, and was glad I didn't have to get formally checked out in it. Didn't care too much for the way the MD520N handled either, but got used to it, and it didn't fly nearly as bad as the MD600N. Yup, the R22 was/is "twitchy" and very sensitive on the controls, but it made every helicopter I flew after it (I learned on the R22) seem easy to fly, at least as compared to the R22. Don't know why anyone would hate an A-Star, I thought they flew, handled and auto-rotated very nicely. And it had air conditioning!
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The BA/B2 AStar is just squirrley for spot landings with it's round bottom and tailboom strake. B3 is a little bit better in that regard. Both are just too flimsy for the kind of flying we do with them. EMS loves them as they're small, cheap to operate comparitively, and plentiful. Not a bad bird, as it's the primary I fly,but not really my first choice either.

The NOTARs were a cool design. Phoenix PD was the launch customer for the 520N. I'd always wondered how hot/high affected the NOTAR antitorque. Phoenox got rid of theirs after the tailbooms timed out, and they couldn't get good support from MD. BP, we had 600Ns, but only for 10 years. Another good helo overall, but didn't auto well with the amount of crap we hung on them and onboard them. Retired them about 4 years ago.

Here's a photo and description below in the thread:

http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/boneyard.108926/page-2#post-1510918
 
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