MD-500 helicopter, how rich do you need to be?

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Brad W

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AOPA recently dropped a little video on youtube of a demo flight in a MD-500. I've had a thing for those basically forever..... starting with the original Hughes models...childhood daydreams about having one.

Anyway, I had that video pop into my suggestions earlier today and while watching it I had a thought that I often do.... "if I ever win the lottery...."

but a question came to mind for you....how big of a lottery would it need to be?

Now I have no serious need for a helicopter.... would most likely just use it as most of us do our single engine GA aircraft..... local flights, weekend hundred dollar hamburger flights....occasional cross country vacation travel.... but IF i'm to blow my winnings I'd want to have enough leftover to fly it regularly and maintain it....so, how big of a lottery for a helo like that?
 
We all know the punchline to this.

But seriously, helicopters are expensive enough. Add a turbine to it? That is a whole different level of expensive.
 
Cost? How much is your life worth? A significant difference with RW is not only the quantity of experience, but quality of experience. I would never put my life in the hands of a 100-hour wonder of RW “experience.” Helicopters are much more efficient at killing you than FW. And much less forgiving.
 
Think of 5 prop replacements at a time, for a single set of usable blades...A new F-150 Platinum for an engine overhaul....


A friend’s UH-1 has been grounded for years due to needing to replace the 42 and 90 degree gearboxes. Cost is more than he has in the helicopter and the original cost to get it airworthy.
 
Hangar next to me is an R-44. I was talking to the owner and asked about insurance. He is paying 18.


THOUSAND per year.
 
Brad W said:
so, how big of a lottery for a helo like that?
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My info is a bit dated but direct hourly costs for a single turbine rotorcraft like your 500 are around $450-500 /hr. The fixed costs are rather subjective to location and the individual. Regardless your 500 would still be cheaper than if you bought a PC-12 and a whole lot more fun.
 
There is a Youtube dude that focuses on trucks, but he has recently purchased a surplus Blackhawk and has had it restored to airworthy conditions and is currently working on his certification to fly it. And it's just one addition to the collection of expensive toys he's already bought.

A surplus UH 60 is a whole level of expensive over a small commercial turbine helicopter. This dude has some serious money and I doubt he earned it. Youtube powered Go Fund Me campaigns are effective ways of getting you there.
 
Sac Arrow said:
There is a Youtube dude that focuses on trucks, but he has recently purchased a surplus Blackhawk and has had it restored to airworthy conditions and is currently working on his certification to fly it. And it's just one addition to the collection of expensive toys he's already bought.

A surplus UH 60 is a whole level of expensive over a small commercial turbine helicopter. This dude has some serious money and I doubt he earned it. Youtube powered Go Fund Me campaigns are effective ways of getting you there.
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Dave Sparks.

 
Sac Arrow said:
There is a Youtube dude that focuses on trucks, but he has recently purchased a surplus Blackhawk and has had it restored to airworthy conditions and is currently working on his certification to fly it. And it's just one addition to the collection of expensive toys he's already bought.

A surplus UH 60 is a whole level of expensive over a small commercial turbine helicopter. This dude has some serious money and I doubt he earned it. Youtube powered Go Fund Me campaigns are effective ways of getting you there.
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Heavy D Sparks. I don’t know if I’d say he didn’t earn it. Maybe he got some inheritance money to start his company but he does run a truck modification / heavy equipment company. Old A model Black Hawks can be gotten for a steal these days. Once the inspections come due though or if something breaks in the meantime, look out.

Edit: yeah @TCABM beat me to it.

 
Bro-in-law has had a few R-44s. He’s got a neighbor with a 500 and was blown away at the annual expense. I have a neighbor who owns an A-Star sales and leasing company. He also owns an R-44 but says there’s no way he’ll get in a piston heli. Another neighbor teaches in her R-22 and R-44 and flies a Bell 406 for a living. She says the 406 is easy to fly. The R-22 is the one that’ll keep you on your toes. I guess you could go R-66 and have turbine reliability and lower expense? A 135 operator up the taxiway has a couple of handfuls of R-44s and a couple of R-66s. The pilots prefer to fly the 66s. More power. I guess that rule applies universally.
 
Stewartb said:
I guess you could go R-66 and have turbine reliability and lower expense.
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Are turbine helicopters really less expensive than a piston helicopter? Can’t see how it would be.
 
TCABM said:
Dave Sparks.
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Cool video.

Curious when he is talking about a major expense being the 15 Bose headsets. How would the headset purchase be anything other than a rounding error on the entire cost of the project?
 
Mongoose Aviator said:
Cool video.

Curious when he is talking about a major expense being the 15 Bose headsets. How would the headset purchase be anything other than a rounding error on the entire cost of the project?
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His target audience ain’t aviation.
 
I think Heavy D might be the victim of too many irons in the fire. I don’t doubt he’s earned his way in business but I don’t think he’s got the background to operate a Black Hawk. Like someone buying an exotic animal but really isn’t prepared for ownership.

Just some of his comments in YT vids on the Black Hawk, makes me believe he hasn’t gotten thorough training. His comment about 701Ds being 1,500 hp a piece is wrong. Pretty sure he has 700s anyway. His knowledge about the tail rotor and the strakes on the BLR was off the mark. While the BLR is an improvement, the Black Hawk has never struggled with tail rotor performance and those “strakes” are actually VGs. The strake or stall strip is on the other side of the tail boom.

I wish him the best but I just think he’s only gotten cursory training on flying the Black Hawk. A roughly 3 month course in the Army that he’s reduced to maybe a few days. Just think he has too many projects to dedicate the time to truly understanding the systems and the maintenance of the aircraft.
 
eman1200 said:
I thought it was kaiser
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When I retire I’ll grow the beard to that length. Alas then I suppose I need to get a pick-em-up truck and move to North Carolina
 
I've never been a fan of Heavy D. Just too much over the top influencer for my taste. Plus this...

"The Heavy Academy conference will take place on February 15th and 16th at The Industrial in Las Vegas. This premiere event will be limited to 100 attendees. Tickets are on sale now and priced at $6,000 each, with the option to add an additional guest ticket for $500. The cost of a ticket also includes 1,200 entries for the attendee to be automatically entered for a chance to win the next diesel truck giveaway."
 
kaiser said:
When I retire I’ll grow the beard to that length. Alas then I suppose I need to get a pick-em-up truck and move to North Carolina
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I just want to be able to grow a beard period. Puberty will kick in one day
 
charheep said:
From the AOPA-

Based on 450 annual owner-operated hours and $7.00-per-gallon fuel cost, the MD 500D has total variable costs of $301,230.00, total fixed costs of $57,235.00, and an annual budget of $358,465.00. This breaks down to $796.59 per hour.

https://app.aircraftcostcalculator.com/AircraftOperatingCosts/521/MD+500D#:~:text=Based on 450 annual owner-operated hours and $7.00-per-gallon,$358,465.00. This breaks down to $796.59 per hour.
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so 450 hours a year is more than I'd fly..... as I'd need time to spend my winnings in other ways too..... but running with the 796 per hour number... I'll call it $1,000 per hour
say I fly 8 hours per month, that would be $8,000 x 12 = $96,000 per year
and if you were to believe the 4% retirement rule of thumb, that would mean I'd need an invested pool of money approx 2.4 million to power the helo habit (based on 0.04X=$96,000)
So I recon the answer to my question is somewhere around an $8 million lottery taken as a lump sum (maybe about $4.2 million cash lump, then take out taxes....)
 
Velocity173 said:
I wish him the best but I just think he’s only gotten cursory training on flying the Black Hawk. A roughly 3 month course in the Army that he’s reduced to maybe a few days.
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That sounds like it’s not going to be a question of “if”, but just when and where.
 
ateamer said:
That sounds like it’s not going to be a question of “if”, but just when and where.
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Well as of right now he’s got someone with experience leading him by the hand in the left seat. How long before the umbilical gets cut? I don’t know. I just hope that when he is on his own, he at least has enough common sense to stay in the books. Also crawl, walk, run before he’s rushes into slinging crap beneath the aircraft just to make exciting YT vids.
 
Probably the video you’re referring to. Can’t imagine it being too light on the controls with no hydraulics. I like the first comment from “bellboy4074.” ;)
 
kep5niner said:
Cost? How much is your life worth? A significant difference with RW is not only the quantity of experience, but quality of experience. I would never put my life in the hands of a 100-hour wonder of RW “experience.” Helicopters are much more efficient at killing you than FW. And much less forgiving.
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Interesting comment.
I've flown with several rotary pilots under 200 hours, not once was i even a slight bit nervous with them.

But I had a 2000 hour fixed wing pilot that certainly has scared me.
 
Here's the deal:

The recurring cost of insurance will make the initial purchase price seem insignificant. You will need an experienced pilot with tens of thousands of rotary wing hours with you to make it worthwhile.

I hereby volunteer for that position...
 
IK04 said:
Here's the deal:

The recurring cost of insurance will make the initial purchase price seem insignificant. You will need an experienced pilot with tens of thousands of rotary wing hours with you to make it worthwhile.

I hereby volunteer for that position...
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I started instruction in a 206L in 1980. After a little more than 20 hours, I realized it was doubtful I would be insurable or employable until in figured out a way to get a lot of hours, and folded the tent.
 
I've loved the 500 since I was a kid. Been eyeballing Mosquito XETs. But thinking maybe I should stick to my $250 RC electric help. Crash that enough as it is.
 
Brad W said:
so 450 hours a year is more than I'd fly..... as I'd need time to spend my winnings in other ways too..... but running with the 796 per hour number... I'll call it $1,000 per hour
say I fly 8 hours per month, that would be $8,000 x 12 = $96,000 per year
and if you were to believe the 4% retirement rule of thumb, that would mean I'd need an invested pool of money approx 2.4 million to power the helo habit (based on 0.04X=$96,000)
So I recon the answer to my question is somewhere around an $8 million lottery taken as a lump sum (maybe about $4.2 million cash lump, then take out taxes....)
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I'm no mathematician, but I think you may be off a bit there. Fixed costs of $57,235.00 aren't going to change. Your variable cost would be a bit over $1265 per hour for an annual operating budget of $121,497. Thant means you'd need more like $3.7MM after taxes (or a 3.7MM Roth IRA) -- just for the helo. That doesn't include anything for you to live on.

I'd suspect that fixed cost number doesn't include insurance or a hangar either.
 
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