Ladies and Gentlemen, Robinson Helicopters is finally offering their new, turbine-powered R66 for sale. This company has rocked the light helicopter industry and hopes to push things even further with their newest design. With a price tag of only $770,000 I'd say there is a good chance the R66 will to do just as well as its predecessors.

There will be a lot of applications for this helo, but I expect it's going to be wildly popular for training. Just as with fixed-wing aircraft, getting turbine time is difficult and expensive for a helicopter pilot, yet it's a necessary evil for someone who wants to become a professional pilot. A lot of the other turbine helicopter options out there are so expensive that it's cost-prohibitive to just buy training time in them. The R66 has a lower acquisition cost and might make these costs reasonable. There's also something to be said for having a line of aircraft that can take a pilot from a small piston machine all the way up to a turbine with generally the same feel/style of aircraft. Cessna, Piper, Diamond and others have been using that strategy pretty successfully for a long time.

The R66 isn't just a trainer though. The AOPA reports that Robinson intends the R66 to be a competitor to several other single-engine turbine models out there. If you look at side-by-side comparisons of these aircraft, the R66 falls a bit short of load capacity, but does just fine in speed, climb rate and has an incredible 10,000' out of ground effect hover altitude! Check out specs for the following:

Robinson R66
Bell Jet Ranger
MD Helicopters MD 500E
American Eurocopter AS 350

Developing a new, more expensive helicopter is a pretty gutsy move to make given the world's recent economic upheavals. However, it looks like a great product from a rock-solid company. I expect we'll be hearing about a lot of R66 sales coming up soon. For a deposit of only $75,000 you can get in line.

Congrats on another achievement Mr. Robinson!