U.S. Navy considering a $6,000-per-hour primary helicopter trainer

by philg

In a recent hardcopy of Rotorcraft Pro magazine there was an article about the U.S. Navy considering using AugustWestland AW119 helicopters as primary trainers, replacing paid-for Bell Jet Ranger helicopters that cost about $600/hour to operate in the civilian world. This defensenews.com article confirms the story. Each Texas-designed and Montreal-built Jet Ranger, worth about $300,000, will be replaced with a $3.5 million Italian helicopter (the AW119) that Conklin & de Decker says costs over $1000 per hour to run.

Note that when civilians learn to fly helicopters they typically do it in a Robinson R22 for about $250 per hour, including all capital costs, plus another $20-50 per hour for the instructor.

Related:

  • this story about the U.S. Army spending $4000 per hour to run Jet Rangers and rejecting a civilian flight school’s offer to do it for closert o $1000 per hour.
  • this story about the U.S. Army trying to do the same thing as the Navy is considering, but with $6 million twin-engine helicopters
  • this newsletter showing that the Jordanian Air Force decided to use $300/hour Robinson R44s as their primary trainers (capital cost about $400,000 each)

3 thoughts on “U.S. Navy considering a $6,000-per-hour primary helicopter trainer”

  1. Did anyone else read Robert Mason’s memoir ‘Chickenhawk’?

    In the Vietnam era, they did primary training on Hughes piston helicopters. If you got through the course, then you’d transition to turbine aircraft.

  2. of course, not to mention that AugustaWestland executives have been embroiled in bribing cases for helicopter sales in India

  3. The fact that the copter costs a lot more money is a feature, not a bug. More money to spread around to Congressmen for spending in their districts, campaign contributions, etc. The Pentagon doesn’t really give a damn about how much things cost – they ain’t spending their own money. It’s like the weight that is given to teaching in college professor tenure decisions – it’s just not important. What outsiders think the priorities should be and what they actually are inside the institution are two completely different things. At best, they will give lip service to the things that they don’t really care about, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty they really don’t give a damn.

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