Enstrom 480 Vs R44

[EC-130]

Seeing as they are both in the same price range, I thought it would be interesting to see which of the two people thought was better and for what reasons . Is there anyone out there who has time in both? All opions welcome. Thanks!

[RTR]

Heven't flown the 480, but have about 300 in Enstroms and R44's each.

 

Enstroms can be very smooth, handle very well and they auto like a dream. They are however, (in my experience anyway) very maintenance intensive helicopters. They need regular attention from an Engineer, and seem to need more unscheduled maintenance than the R44.

 

R44's fly very well, almost comparable to a B206. They are faster than the B206 in most flight regiems. They auto rotate similar to the B206 as well. Maintenance wise, they are very good. They generally go from 100 hour inspection to 100 hour inspection with little (if any) unscheduled maintenance. Most components have a 2200 hour life minimum. Some are as high as 4400 hours.

 

My take would be, $ for $, the R44 is the better bet.

 

Of course, all of this is just my humble opinion.

 

cheers,

RTR

[Billy Hill]

I would have to agree with RTR. The main diference would definetly be the maintenance issues. I dont know how well Enstrom is with support nowadays but Robinson seems like they have their S### together. It would be cool to see more Enstroms flying around though!