British aerospace engineer Jason Hill became enthralled with helicopters in his youth while watching the television show, Airwolf, the highly fictionalized account of a Bell 222 converted to a supersonic assault weapon. The experience led to a decades-long dream of producing a stylish, modern light-helicopter design he unveiled in 2020, the five-seat Hill HX50. By last November, Hill Helicopters had attracted hundreds of orders and produced its first carbon-fiber, single-piece fuselage. It plans to begin flight testing by the end of 2023.
The effort, largely funded by Hill’s successful engineering firm Dynamiq, has drawn its share of skeptics, but Hill plods on with near-monthly progress reports he broadcasts live on YouTube. The videos are a quirky combination of a slick infomercial, college engineering lecture, and town hall meeting, in which Hill personally fields live questions from the electronic audience. Other videos posted by the company feature interviews with Hill’s wife, brother, and colleagues, all testifying to Hill’s long-standing and complete commitment to the helicopter. Isabella Hill calls her husband’s drive to build the HX50, “an obsession.”
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