Best Utility Helicopter

[FLYBOYJ]

I read somewhere either Bell or the FAA had a count of about 10,000 UH-1s built and there are 12,000 flying around! Operators "boot-legged" the dataplate off a crashed ship and built and aircraft up from parts.

 

[Lucky13]

I want one...or two, or three, or...!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I want one...or two, or three, or...!

Here you go:

Bell 205 A1 for sale

 

[Elvis]

Oh, just gimmee the Huey...any day of the week.
Flying truck, that thing was.


Elvis

 

[Luis Miguel Almeida]

Hi guys!!
Sorry about the intrusion, but i have one question why don´t you include in the poll, the Alouette III ?

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Because the Alouette III does not hold a candle to the other helicopters up there. It is a light utility and with its max take off weight of 4850lb and its low performance is not going to compare to the other aircraft up there.

It is a good air search and rescue aircraft and light observation but compared to the others up there it does not hold a candle.

Hell the Blackhawk that I used to crew could slingload a Alouette III.

 

[ToughOmbre]

She is the C-47 of Helicopters.

That she is! There's no better way to honor the Huey than that.

TO

 

[Luis Miguel Almeida]

Ok! i see your point of view! just asking because you included the linx!!
here in Portugal is still used has a Gunship, has it was used in the War in Africa! About low performance i didn`t understand ?
Has i said before my english is a bit limited!!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

What I mean by low performance is that it speed, range, and cieling are lower than comparable aircraft. It also can only carry a payload of about 2400lb.

As I said it is a good search and rescue aircraft but thats about it.

We actually did some training missions with the Swiss Alouette III's down in the Alps. It was a lot of fun. It is a good light utility aircraft but outclassed by larger and better aircraft.

 

[Luis Miguel Almeida]

Thank you for explainig!
My choice is the Puma!

 

[drgondog]

Huey is obviously the best of all time in my opinion. No other helicopter has been in service for as long as she has and she keeps on going. She was a joy to fly in as well.

The only reason I went with the Blackhawk is because it was my aircraft and because it is a better performer and better overall aircraft.

I was a design and structures engineer at Bell with a hand in the UH-1D/H, AH-1 and Jet Ranger. In my opinion the UH 60 is a better airframe for survivability, better flexibility..

The Huey is like a C-47 - it did everything you asked of it and well. My heart is with UH-1, my head is with UH-60 Blackhawk

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I was a design and structures engineer at Bell with a hand in the UH-1D/H, AH-1 and Jet Ranger. In my opinion the UH 60 is a better airframe for survivability, better flexibility..

The Huey is like a C-47 - it did everything you asked of it and well. My heart is with UH-1, my head is with UH-60 Blackhawk

I agree. Basically they took what they learned from the Huey and made the Blackhawk from it.

And I agree my heart is with the UH-1 but my head is with the Hawk as well.

Thank you for explainig!
My choice is the Puma!

Good aircraft actually.

When I was deployed to Kosovo we raced a Swiss Super Puma from Pristina to our Camp. We just barely beat it. The Super Puma will actually out perform a Hawk but we were able to get the most our of our aircraft.

 

[plan_D]

The RAF have a couple of UH-1s as well... a lot of people don't know that.

 

[AVRoe]

Dornier UH-1D Iroquois (205) Is my baby worked on them for the last 9 yearsView attachment 58715

 

[AVRoe]

The RAF is using the 101 merlin is it any good ?. I left the RAF before it went into servive.

 

[plan_D]

I've heard it's performance is outstanding. One of the few helicopters that haven't caused a lot of trouble upon their introduction.

 

[Luis Miguel Almeida]

I don´t know about RAF EH -101, but the Portuguese Merlin has 50% of their helis grounded, because of mechanical and software problems. one even crashed against the runway from 3 meters high, during a medevac injuring a doctor in the spine.
In fact the air force is considering to put the old SA 330 Puma back in operation!!