Rotor blades

[seneca2e]

Are a set of brand new rotor blades-inner and outer available from the factory? If so what would be the cost? A few years ago you could buy a new set of Enstrom blades with NO RETIREMENT times for like $24k which strikes me as a good deal compared to others out there. Buying rotor blades that are basicly untraceable somehow doesn't exactly make me confident

[SunHelo Paul]

In a recent conversation with the factory we were informed that they are getting their ducks in a row to start cranking out new rotor blades as we speak.

[seneca2e]

Yes I believe the outers are going to be 18,000 a set but when I inquired about the inners it seemed they thought at present there were enough out there to cover demand but really you need to have a cost available for new inners since they are a time life component. You need those figures to compare true operating costs to Enstroms, Robinsons, etc. You've got to take the known cost of a component or overhaul and divide it by it's time life to get a true cost per hour. Seems really the only logical way of doing it. Until they get some new machines being cranked out it's a hard comparison. They quoted a breathtaking 170k for used refurbed machines 8 years old. I can't see many buyers for those machines at those prices.