AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2011 - 43

PILOT BRIEFING
Robinson Helicopter sales recovering

On Your Mark. Get Set. Vote!
The AOPA Foundation Angel Fight Central Angel Flight East Angel Flight Soars Angel Flight Southeast/ Mercy Flight Southeast Angel Flight West Aviation Exploring Civil Air Patrol Commemorative Air Force Experience Aviation EAA, Chapter 44 Helicopter Foundation International JAARS Mission Aviation Fellowship Recreational Aviation Foundation The Ninety-Nines, Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Fund Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum Wings of Hope Women in Aviation, International Youth Aviation Adventure

Robinson Helicopter President Kurt Robinson and his father, company founder Frank Robinson, think the worst is behind them as far as the economy is concerned. After delivering only 162 rotorcraft in 2010, there is now a backlog of 169 new orders. Total production last year was 40 R22 models, 112 R44 models, and 10 R66 turbine helicopters. The company had to work its way through an Lightspeed Aviation Foundation partners with you, the aviation community, to unsold inventory before logging new encourage growth, awareness and compassion but now it’s time for you to decide who orders. The new problem is to increase and how these organizations will be supported.* production. Robinson currently builds seven helicopters a week, including Go to LightspeedAviationFoundation.org and place your vote today for your favorite two five-place R66 helicopters, four aviation charity. The top five vote recipients will each receive a check for $10,000 on AOPA R44 four-place models, and one R22 Live from the AOPA Summit in September. Now you can make the difference! two-place model. The company must also introduce the R66 on floats, a model with a cargo hook, an IFR trainer model, *Additional designated gifts will be awarded to finalists an R66 for police work, and another Vote for your favorite charity at whenever a Lightspeed headset is purchased and registered designed for news work. The news LightspeedAviationFoundation.org from March 25th, 2011 through December 31, 2011. helicopter will be the last to be developed. In the meantime, the company is pursuing certification of the R66 in a number of countries, includ- Foundation Vote Ad Final.indd 1 3/28/11 ing Canada, Brazil, and Russia. Kurt Robinson said the company is “not in a hurry” to certify glass-cockpit helicopter models. There are now 130 orders for the R66. A new air conditioner weighing 42 pounds is now certified for the R66. The air conditioning option is $23,000.

7:45:14 PM

Answers from page 40
1. He defined the “area rule,” a discovery that influenced the Coke-bottle fuselage shape of many supersonic aircraft that followed. Whitcomb was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1954. 2. The Concorde. 3. The 35-degree wing sweep. 4. The F–86 Sabre Jet (although later models incorporated non-hinged control surfaces). 5. Wiley Post pioneered the pressure suit in 1934 and flew his Lockheed Vega, Winnie Mae, to altitudes up to 50,000 feet where he was the first to quantify sustained stratospheric winds well in excess of 100 miles per hour. (Jets hadn’t been invented at the time of Post’s discovery.)
Do you have suggestions for aviation quiz questions? Send your questions (and answers) to pilot@aopa.org.

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AOPA PILOT • 43 • MAY 2011

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2011

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