Robinson R22: The Cheapest Helicopter in The World!

Today, Robinson Helicopter Company are known for producing some of the best helicopters currently around, including the R44 and R66. Yet, both of these helicopters can trace their origins back to another helicopter: The Robinson R22.

Despite having been introduced in 1979, and the company having developed two newer helicopters, Robinson continues to produce the R22 today, with nearly 5,000 having been produced since 1979!

Pre-Robinson R22

Russian-American engineer, Igor Sikorsky, would begin development of what he called the Sikorsky S-46 in 1938. With the financial backing of Vought Aircraft, Sikorsky would build and fly the S-46 (now called the VS-300) for the first time on May 13 1940.

Although Sikorsky was the first to build and fly a modern helicopter, he was by no means the only one. Over the next few years, several more helicopters would enter service.

There was only one problem, however: They were all used exclusively by the world’s militaries.

Whilst military contracts for these helicopters were lucrative, there was significant demand for civilian variants of most utility and light observation helicopters, particularly for corporate and VIP transport use.

To that end, Bell Helicopters were able to get their Bell 47 helicopter certified for civilian use on March 8 1946. Owing to this, Bell would receive literally thousands of civilian (as well as military) orders for the helicopter.

Among the roles the Bell 47 was used in by civilian operators was as a VIP transport, crop duster, basic trainer, news helicopter and film prop (among others).

Yet, by the early 1970’s, the aging rather fuel-inefficient Bell 47 was becoming too expensive for many civil operators to continue to operate. As such, they began to look for a replacement…

Development

One of the people who’d hear this was aircraft engineer, Frank D. Robinson, who’d previously worked for Cessna (on their CH-1 Skyhook), Bell Helicopter (working on the Bell 206) and Hughes Helicopters (on the MD500).

Seeing this, Frank Robinson would resign his position at Hughes Helicopters in 1973, to found his own company, Robinson Helicopter Company, which he hoped to use to design and build his own helicopter.

Operated out of his home, Frank Robinson would sit down and design a two-seat, single engine, light helicopter that had superior physical and technical specs to its competition (primarily the Bell 47 it was replacing), as well as a low price to go alongside it.

Before designing his helicopter Frank Robinson realized that if he wanted to compete with the helicopters that his former employers made, he’d have to produce a helicopter with the best possible specs, at the lowest possible price.

To that end, the helicopter would be mainly built out of chromoly steel, with the forward fuselage being made of aluminum and cockpit being made of Plexiglas. This would make the helicopter as lightweight as possible (for the 1970’s anyway!)

Combined with a Lycoming O-320-A2B engine, Robinson’s helicopter would be able to cruise at speeds of 178km/h (110 mph; 96 kn) whilst having a range of 387 km (241 mi; 209 nmi).

Designed entirely by Frank Robinson from his home, Frank would begin personally building the prototype at Zamperini Field in Torrance, California, in late 1974.

Upon completing the prototype in 1975, Frank would designate his new helicopter as the Robinson R22, personally flying the helicopter on its first test flight that same year. The remaining test flights would be conducted by Joseph John “Tym” Tymczyszyn.

Service History

Following this, the Robinson R22 would get FAA certification in March 1979, before being delivered to its first customer that same year. From here, it would go on to have an incredibly interesting operational history!

Private

When it was first released in 1979, the Robinson R22 was designed to be appealing to private operators who previously operated the Bell 47 as a general aviation helicopter.

To that end, the R22 was marketed heavily towards fairly well off white-collar professionals, who weren’t interested in buying something as common as the Cessna 152 or 172 but still wanted a general aviation aircraft of some kind.

In private hands, the kind of flights that an R22 would do was largely based on the person who owned and operated the helicopter.

For some, the R22 would be hangared for most of the year, only being taken out on the best possible days per year, where it would fly several long flights, until day turned to night.

For others, the R22 would be hangared only some of the time, with the owner taking it up as often as possible, flying a mixture of long and short flights depending on their needs and wants at the time.

During the 1980’s, the cost of aviation fuel (and oil in general) plummeted. In turn, this allowed several wealthy former military helicopter pilots to begin operating the R22 through owning it personally, rather than with a few friends.

Sadly, the cost of operating and maintaining an aging R22 is becoming too for many private operators. Coupled with the introduction of newer helicopters like the Robinson R44 and R66, has seen many begin to sell off the R22 in favor of newer R44s and R66s.

Corporate

Whilst not opulent by any means (at least, not when its compared to specifically-designed VVIP helicopters like the AW109, AW139 and S-76 anyway), the Robinson R22 has made for a rather popular corporate transport.

Here, the R22’s low cost to acquire, operate and maintain has appealed to many frugal corporate operators, particularly self-made millionaires and billionaires who often look to save as many pennies as possible!

As a general rule, these corporate operators use the R22 as a VIP transport, transporting their owner, CEO or other high-ranking C-Suite executives to and from places without having to worry about traffic.

In corporate service, the two most common routes the R22 flew were from the owner/CEO/executive’s house to the office (to avoid traffic) and/or from the owner/CEO/executive’s house/office to the local airport (to get to their corporate jet).

Perhaps the most notable corporate operator of the R22 was Frank Robinson, the man who designed, built and flew the very first R22. Although he could quite easily afford a private jet, he prefers to travel by helicopter and/or boat.

Although he no longer uses an R22 to get around (instead using either an R44 or R66 depending on his needs), the R22 served as his personal/corporate helicopter for well over 20 years!

News

Whilst also the first civilian-certified helicopter, the Bell 47 also holds the title of being the world’s first news helicopter too. In 1958, Los Angeles TV station KTLA attached cameras to a Bell 47, which was able to cover things like traffic jams with ease.

Not surprisingly, several other TV stations would follow suit, most of whom would use the Bell 47. By the time the R22 was introduced, these TV stations were retiring their Bell 47s for a newer helicopter.

The Robinson R22 seemed like the natural replacement.

Usually acquiring the R22 by leasing it from a helicopter leasing company, local TV stations would modify their R22s with an externally located news camera located underneath the R22’s cockpit.

Entering service as news helicopters (sometimes called “news choppers” or “telecopters”) in the early 1980’s, the R22 would twice daily – once in the morning and once in the evening – everyday, to cover stories for the station.

Most often, the R22’s news crews would cover things like traffic jams or accidents to alert the people in the local area of the situation. On occasion, however, the R22’s crew would cover things like annual parades, local protests and very rarely, car chases.

Sadly, the ratification of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in the US (as well as similar bills in other countries) coupled with the rise of the internet – and the associated e-media – have wrought havoc on the news broadcasting industry.

As their profits have declined, many local news stations, including many of the wealthy ones, have begun to stop sending their news choppers up, due to the high costs of running them.

Farming

For as long as there have been aircraft capable of powered flight, there have been people who’ve wanted to use these aircraft for agricultural the purposes.

Whilst we typically think of using aircraft as crop dusters for farms, the R22 entered into service at a time when spraying chemicals onto food had disastrous long-term effects on the plants themselves and the land they grew on.

Instead, the (relatively) loud noise of the R22’s engine was used by some farmers for herding livestock (sometimes called mustering or roundup).

You see, on large-scale farms/ranches, the farm/ranch owner can either fly the Robinson R22 themselves or rent out an R22 and a pilot, to fly around their pasture.

Here, the loud noise of the engine startles the animals (mostly cattle, sheep and horses), with the mobility of the helicopter allowing the pilot/farmer to fly around the herd and round them up into a small area.

From here, they can herded into a specific area through the pilot flying backwards and forwards in the opposite direction that they want to the animals to go in (as the animals will want to be farthest away from the noise that’s scaring them).

All in all, the extent that farmers/ranchers use the R22 is mostly depending on the farm/ranch and farmer/rancher.

If their farm/ranch is rather large (and more importantly, rather profitable) and they need to herd livestock regularly, they’ll use the R22 often. If they’re small/less profitable, they’ll only use the R22 when they absolutely have to!

For the most part, the R22 is used mostly for farming reasons in the US, with the next largest nations being Australia, followed by New Zealand.

Pilot Training

Beyond being designed to be relatively low-cost as well as having superior technical specs to its competitors, Frank Robinson also designed the R22 to be relatively easy to operate – so that somebody with only minimal training could fly it.

As it was intended, this made the Robinson R22 more popular with pilots that it already was, thus helping Robinson to sell more R22s. However, there was also an unintended side effect too…

You see, cheap, yet easy to operate helicopters (and aircraft in general!) appeal to flight schools around the world, as these kind of aircraft are preferred by student pilots and flight instructors alike!

Due to this, a number of flight schools began placing sizable orders for the R22, which began being delivered in the mid 1980’s, with orders for the R22 from flight schools continuing to pour in until the early 2000’s.

As a trainer helicopter, the R22 is used almost daily, performing multiple takeoffs and landings per day (as a part of the training guidelines) as well as taking several longer flights per week for students further into their training.

Recently, a study of all the flights conducted by the R22 per year, found that 13% of all annual R22 flights were for civilian flight training purposes!

Even in a time when many operators are beginning to retire their R22 in favor of newer, more fuel-efficient helicopters, flight schools are stubbornly refusing to retire their R22s. Some are only doing so reluctantly due to higher fuel costs.

Military

Yet it hasn’t just been civilian flight schools that have seen the benefits of using the low-cost Robinson R22. So have the militaries of several different countries too!

As of the time of writing, three military branches of three different countries currently operate the R22 for training purposes. These are the: Dominican Republic Army, Philippine Navy and Mexican Navy.

In Dominican Republic Army service, the R22 is the sole helicopter trainer, training student pilots (who’ll eventually go on to pilot either the OH-58 Kiowa or the R44) the basics of helicopter flying.

Currently in Dominican Republic Army service are four R22s.

In Philippine Navy service are two Robinson R22s, both of whom are used to train future AW159 Wildcat, AW109 and MBB Bo 105 pilots the basics (before progressing onto their respective helicopter).

Additionally, there is one R22 Mariner (a naval variant of the R22 with floats instead of skid landing gear) used by the Mexican Navy to teach pilots how to land on water, before they eventually go on to fly helicopters like the UH-60, Mi-17 and AS565 among others.

Beyond service as a basic trainer, the R22 has served as the basis for two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used by the military.

The first is the Robinson-Boeing Maverick UAV, of which four are currently in US Navy service. The second, Renegade UAV, whilst not used by a military (instead by DARPA) but is used as a testbed for future military UAVs.

Price

To ensure that the R22 sold quite well, Frank Robinson would sell the superior R22 at a much lower cost. To that end, a brand new Robinson R22 costs roughly $328,200, thus making it one of the cheapest helicopters currently available.

Despite a brand new R22 being quite cheap, you can get one for even cheaper on the secondary market. As of the time of writing, prices for a used R22 vary from $125,000 for an R-22 from the late 1980’s, 1990’s and early 2000’s on the lower end.

On the higher end, you can acquire an R22 from the late 2000’s or 2010’s for between $250,000 and $300,000 depending on age, number of hours on the fuselage and number of landings.

All in all, the cost of the average R22 hovers somewhere in the region of $210,000 (as of the time of writing).

In terms of cost to operate, the R22 is still incredibly cheap, with its direct costs totaling around $145 per hour, making it not only superior in terms of specs to the Bell 47, but also cheaper than it too!

Due to the Robinson R22’s popularity, many companies currently rent it out for various uses.

Although the price will differ from place to place depending on demand, as well as other factors like time of year, the average cost to charter an R22 at the minute is roughly $275 per hour.

Specifications

As the replacement for the Bell 47, Frank Robinson designed the R22 to have certain similarities to the helicopter it replaced. The R22 would also serve as the basis for the R44, and thus the R66, meaning that the three helicopters have some specs in common.

In large part due to the R22’s success, Robinson have produced several variants of the R22 for different operators. In turn, these R22s have had differing specs to some degree to suit their intended purposes.

Despite this, by far the most common variant of the R22 was the standard Robinson R22 released back in 1979…

Specifications	Robinson R22
Length	28 ft 8 in (8.74 m)
Rotor Diameter	25 ft 2 in (7.68 m)
Height	8 ft 11 in (2.72 m)
Crew	1/2
Passengers	1/0
Cruise Speed	178 km/h (110 mph; 96 kn)
Range	387 km (241 mi; 209 nmi)
Service Ceiling	14,000 ft (4,300 m)
MTOW	1,370 lb (621 kg)

Why Has the Robinson R22 Been so Successful?

Having been produced consistently since 1979, it’s safe to say that the R22 has been quite popular. Indeed, as of 2015 (the most recent figures as of the time of writing), the Robinson Helicopter Company have produced 4,600 R22s.

To put this in perspective, the Robinson R22 is the world’s sixth most produced helicopter overall, and the second most produced civilian helicopter, only behind the R44 that was developed from it.

For starters, the R22 was so successful due to its price.

Even as newer, more fuel-efficient helicopters (that style themselves as the successor to the R22) have been introduced over the 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s and 2010’s, none have been able to beat its off-the-shelf price tag of $328,200.

As such, the R22 has become quite popular with those operators who are looking for the best cost-savings, even if some of the R22’s “successors” are a little more expensive to operate per seat!

The second is specs.

Hoping to get more sales, Frank Robinson designed the R22 to have superior specs to its competitors. And this worked, with the R22’s specs being far better than any other light helicopter on the market at the time.

Interestingly, the R22’s specs have not been matched by any other light helicopter on the market today. Even though newer helicopters like the Guimbal Cabri G2 and Enstrom F28F are more fuel-efficient, they’re often slower and have less range (or vice-versa).

Combining these two factors, it’s easy to see why many have opted to buy the Robinson R22 – it’s cheaper and better than its competition!

How Safe is The Robinson R22?

Today, Robinson Helicopter Company has a mixed reputation when it comes to safety.

Up until the mid-2010’s, the company was known for producing the safest helicopters in the world. However, recent years have seen issues with the R44’s fuel tanks and rotor blades, as well as issues with the R66’s rotor blades, tarnish this reputation.

So, this begs the question: How safe if the Robinson R22?

Of the over 4,600 R22s produced to date, there have been 1235 incidents involving the type, of which, 248 were fatal. Whilst this may seem like a lot, 248 fatal crashes out of 4,600 ever made is only 5.4%, or roughly the same as flying the 737.

For a helicopter built in the 1970’s, this is actually incredibly safe. However, if this were for a helicopter produced say, in the last 10 years or so, this would be incredibly dangerous. So it really depends how you look at it.

Interestingly, the early 1980’s would see an increase in the number of flight schools using the R22, and thus, student-related crashes.

Whilst usually not a problem for helicopter manufacturers (as crashing is seen as part of the learning curve for student pilots), Robinson were not given this information. Instead, they thought pilot error was causing dozens of crashes per year.

Hoping to fix this, Robinson would establish the Robinson Pilot Safety Course in 1982, which aimed to help flight instructors scale down from large helicopters to a smaller one like the Robinson R22!

Although mocked as “unnecessary” by the aviation community at the time, it seems to have actually worked, reducing the crash rate 3.7 per 100,000 flight hours in 1983 to 0.97 per 100,000 flight hours in 1995.

Legacy

Although many R22s are still in service, the Robinson R22 has already left a surprisingly large impact on the aviation industry as a whole…

Robinson Helicopter Company

When the R22 was introduced in 1979, the company had never produced any kind of aircraft (be it another helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft) and had thus didn’t have any kind of reputation with helicopter operators whatsoever.

As such, when Frank Robinson introduced the R22 in 1979, relatively few people were willing to place orders for the R22 in the beginning, understandably not knowing what they were about to buy.

However, when the Robinson R22’s first operators received their helicopter, the helicopter they received was far better than they could’ve ever imagined! And people soon knew this, with sales of the R22 skyrocketing from the early 1980’s onwards.

Using this, Robinson was able to acquire so much brand loyalty that when it came to replacing the R22, many operators simply turned to Robinson Helicopter Company and looked for their latest helicopter to replace the R22 with!

Future Helicopters

Most famously, the success of the R22 would inspire Frank Robinson and his Robinson Helicopter Company to create a larger helicopter, with the ability to transport four people, based on the Robinson R22’s design.

This helicopter would become the four-seat Robinson R44, which has been even more successful, selling well over 6,000 times to date!

Building on this momentum, the R44 would be developed into the superior Robinson R66, which was introduced in 2010 to compete with larger helicopters produced by the like of Eurocopter, Leonardo (formerly AgustaWestland) and Bell.

The success of the R22 would also inspire engineers at companies like Enstrom Helicopters, Schweizer Aircraft and (in part) Hélicoptères Guimbal to produce the Enstrom 480, SC-333 and G2 Cabri respectively.

What do you think of the Robinson R22? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!

Featured image courtesy of Pavel Vanka via Flickr.