A start-up aviation manufacturer based in Rugeley near Birmingham have reported record early sales figures for their innovative new helicopter. Founded by Jason Hill, Hill Helicopters unveiled their HX50 model and began taking pre-orders for it in August last year.
The five seater luxury chopper, which is powered on their in-house developed Hill GT50 light turbine engine, quickly sold out on its first two releases of 100 pre-orders, which considering that the initial deposit on these is £495,000, that's a pretty phenomenal achievement.
It's not hard to see why they've been a hit; the light turbine on which the HX50 is powered has been developed by a team of seasoned aviation industry specialists, who have input years of expertise combined with more modern advancements in technology and newer manufacturing techniques to bring and successfully launch a new helicopter to market.
One thing that does work in the HX50's favour with the light turbine is the fact it is more energy efficient, consuming approximately 35 gph of fuel. That may still sound like a lot, but if you compare that to say, the MIL MI-26, which has two 11,000 horsepower strong jet engines burn 1000 gph, that's substantially less fuel and thus fewer emissions.
The 200 pre-orders that Hill Helicopters have taken in so far have come from over 28 countries, the UK included, and so delighted are they with the commercial result it has had, they have announced plans to commence scheduled flights of the first of three prototypes early in 2022, with production scheduled to start by 2023.
We look forward to the time when we're able to hopefully offer flights in the HX50 at our many Airfields and Locations across the UK. But you can still book from our fantastic range of Helicopter Flights today with one of our open Gift Vouchers - why not get yours booked in today?
