If Michael Knight had a helicopter this would be it! – Capt White talks about Hill Helicopter launch

I’ve known about the Hill helicopter project for some time and have been, like many of us rotorheads, following its progress so was very pleased when they announced a launch at nearby Duxford Aerodrome. Having registered and received the invitation, we organised for a group of our students and self hirers to join me. The plan had been to fly in but unfortunately early December weather can be unpredictable and wasn’t suitable. Once we arrived and checked in we headed straight for the conference centre where the exhibition was being held. There was plenty to see; engine gearboxes, drive systems, rotor systems and two versions of the Hill Helicopter the HX50 and the HC50 looking fairly complete. These were prototypes of course, not airworthy but still quite breath-taking more like the unveiling of a new super car.  Hill spoke for sometime about the engine which looked impressive, but has yet to be tested as it still in the development phase. There was also a stand where they showed the tail rotor design, which was similar to the Cabri G2. The workings of it looked simple, strong and effective. The two models on display were basically the same, one boasted a retractable, wheeled undercarriage whilst the other was on skids but essentially the same. Inside was definitely built with pilot and passenger comfort and safety in mind and was a treat to be able to climb aboard and see all the avionics lights working. There was a flight simulator available to try it out but after standing by for a while and noting some considerable lag from the controls we decided not to embarrass ourselves by trying to fly it.

I took the opportunity to talk to some customers that already placed orders and they were very excited about the whole project and keen to actually see the helicopter in its entirety for the first time, some travelling from as far as Australia specifically for this event. They seemed to have very little concern of this being a completely new project built from the ‘skids’ up and had every faith in Jason, his team and the investors backing them. Whilst there’s no guaranteed production or delivery date disclosed this year they will focus on further development and then on to testing in 2025 with fingers crossed production commencing 2026 but as I say no timelines have been confirmed.

We broke for lunch and took great pleasure in discussing everything we had seen so far. Once fed and watered we headed back to the conference centre where it had quietened down and gave us another chance to sit in the helicopters and the perfect photo oppprtunity.  We were able to get a closer look at the main rotor system which essentially is the same as our standard trainers Robinson and G2, but just a little different how they were going to mix the collective and cyclic input to the swashplate to the rotorhead. Other neat design features worthy of a mention; very sophisticated avionics with ‘fly me home’ at the touch of a button. The ability to achieve this would be quite revolutionary, as are its claims of being able to autorotate and land itself if required. Large luggage compartment, folding rotorblades which is particularly useful being a three bladed road system as they can take up a lot of hangar space.

We also met with @pilot_yellow who most us have seen and followed his videos on YouTube and it now turns out he works for Hill Helicopters, advising and promoting the product so it was good to see him and have a chat. Of course there were many people from the industry there that I recognised it seems there’s nothing like the launch of a new helicopter to bring out pilots on a wet Thursday and it was nice to have a catch up with them as for some hadn’t seen for a little while.

My thoughts on it for what it’s worth… It looks fantastic, certainly sounds like it’s gonna be amazing helicopter for a very good price and looks like they will achieve their goal. Will it take longer than expected? Probably these things do. Will it be popular? Hill seems to already have people ready to buy, with at least 900 or more deposits/options with a mixture of those wanting it for personal use, those keen to operate it commercially and some literally just speculating that they’ll sell their option they deposit and make a profit on it. At least one of our students was very interested one so you could see one at Elstree Helicopters soon…