With in-development R66, Robinson bets on turbines | Aviation International News

With in-development R66, Robinson bets on turbines

Just two days after the second Rolls-Royce RR300-powered Robinson R66 made its first flight in February, Robinson Helicopter CEO Frank Rob- inson still had

By Mark Huber • Contributor

March 30, 2009

Just two days after the second Rolls-Royce RR300-powered Robinson R66 made its first flight in February, Robinson Helicopter CEO Frank Rob- inson still had little good to say about small turbine-powered helicopters.

“Fuel consumption is too…high and parts costs are too high,” he said. This has been his mantra for the better part of five decades, and Robinson has built his company around designing and manufacturing simple, relatively inexpensive piston-engine-powered helicopters. However, with 70 percent of the company’s sales to the export market, where avgas is increasingly scarce, expensive or both, Robinson felt he had no choice but to develop a new helicopter that would run on jet-A.

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