Hughes 269C

[Tarheelpilot]

Anyone have any operational experience with the 269C? Looking for reliability, routine maintenance and general insight about the flight characteristics.

 

[Velocity173]

I think R&W has the only experience here with that type.

 

[ClimbnSink]

I did my I my initial in them. They are slow, very slow. Wasn't involved in maintenance, not as trouble free as a R22. Seem to recall some versions have short adjustment schedule of lag hinges 25 hours iirc. RRW or one of the army trained guys might know.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Anyone have any operational experience with the 269C? Looking for reliability, routine maintenance and general insight about the flight characteristics.

I've owned 3 of them.

Flying: Good flight characteristics, low inertia rotor, the correlator on the collective is very good (if rigged correctly). 80 to 90 knot cruise, can get I faster if you need. Good tail rotor authority.

Maintenance: You will need an A&P that knows the type. There is a lot of specialized tooling needed to work on one, your average fixed wing A&P will not be able to maintain it. Parts are very expensive, and Schwiezer does a **** poor job of supporting them with parts.

Reliability: If maintained, reliable. But you will do maintenance on this between 100 hour inspections, there is no getting around this.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Just curious, what are you thinking about using this helicopter for?

 

[Tarheelpilot]

Just curious, what are you thinking about using this helicopter for?

Getting my helicopter license and flying it afterward. I have my A&P and access to a mechanic with experience on the type to teach me. I'm too big for r22's and the 44 is more than I want to spend.

What would you recommend?

I am very early in the process of doing something with the helicopter dream. Might be able to do something within the next two years. Four is more realistic. Just trying to educate myself.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[jaybee]

I've owned 3 of them.

Flying: Good flight characteristics, low inertia rotor, the correlator on the collective is very good (if rigged correctly). 80 to 90 knot cruise, can get I faster if you need. Good tail rotor authority.

Maintenance: You will need an A&P that knows the type. There is a lot of specialized tooling needed to work on one, your average fixed wing A&P will not be able to maintain it. Parts are very expensive, and SIKORSKY does a **** poor job of supporting them with parts.

Reliability: If maintained, reliable. But you will do maintenance on this between 100 hour inspections, there is no getting around this.

Fixed that for you :wink2: (Schweizer wasn't that great, Sikorsky is 10 shades worse)

 

[jaybee]

The "300C" is LH PIC so that you can take two passengers instead of just 1 like the CBi. It also runs at a higher RPM and has larger diameter rotor for a little more useful load.

As far as speed... its a helicopter whats the hurry !

I did some of my primary training in the most famous 300C of them all - http://www.otto-airshow.com/ - and did my Instrument Helicopter in a CBi.

Great reliable aircraft and one of the safest, though after a few hours of "standing on the pedals"* its not the funnest XC machine. I prefer the Bell 47 for sightseeing XC rides and the R44 when I need to get there faster than a Cessna 172

*"standing on the pedals" is attributed to the nose-low cruise attitude.

EDIT - probably the biggest maintenance item that was pilot induced is the electric trim screws, follow your checklist - all the way to shutdown.

 

[RotorAndWing]

The "300C" is LH PIC so that you can take two passengers instead of just 1 like the CBi. It also runs at a higher RPM and has larger diameter rotor for a little more useful load.

The 300C (269C) uses the same rotor blades and rotor head as the 300CB (269C-1), so both have the same rotor diameter.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Getting my helicopter license and flying it afterward. I have my A&P and access to a mechanic with experience on the type to teach me. I'm too big for r22's and the 44 is more than I want to spend.

What would you recommend?

I am very early in the process of doing something with the helicopter dream. Might be able to do something within the next two years. Four is more realistic. Just trying to educate myself.

Thanks for the responses.

I owned an Enstrom. Nice speed, nice large cabin, good factory support, doesn't require a lot of specialized tooling.

Try http://www.sharkeys.com/

He sells more Enstroms than anyone, and is very knowledgable on them.

 

[jaybee]

The 300C (269C) uses the same rotor blades and rotor head as the 300CB (269C-1), so both have the same rotor diameter.

I would hope so since they are the same aircraft

269 is the Type Certificate; 300 is the model name (in use starting with B model). :wink2:

To clarify, bigger rotor diameter than the 269 A and higher RPM than CB(IIRC) and CBi.

Also to note about the C model, because of the higher RPM it has a lower TBO

 

[RotorAndWing]

I would hope so since they are the same aircraft

269 is the Type Certificate; 300 is the model name (in use starting with B model). :wink2:

To clarify, bigger rotor diameter than the 269 A and higher RPM than CB(IIRC) and CBi.

Also to note about the C model, because of the higher RPM it has a lower TBO

269A and 269B have the shorter blades. 269C, 269C-1 and 269D use the same blades.

The 269C had a dual RPM option, essentially you could run it at 269C-1 rotor speed (2700 vs 3200) at reduced weight.