www.brantly.info

Hi all. This is my first post here. I've located a 1962 B2B. It's been sitting in a hangar, unflown since 1980. The cabin is partially disassembled (don't know why). It has a new set of main blades (could be a used set of blades but new to this heli). Still in a box never used on this machine. I don't know how well the engine was inhibited. It only has about 170 hrs TT on the engine and airframe. Paint and metalwork needs some serious cleanup but it doesn't look like there is any corrosion.
It appears from this site that one can buy a flyable B2B for between say $40 - $75k depending on age and condition. If the unit I've found needs, at minimum, a bulk strip on the engine, maybe some rotor or hinge replacement, inspection of tail rotor gear box, work on the cabin, etc I wonder if it's worth buying for anything but spares? From this very brief description, can you hazard a guess at what would be a reasonable price to pay? I'm not an A&P but have built a couple of experimental planes. Not that this helps since I'm not really permitted to do any work on the plane (except under supervision, maybe).
Oh, and are needed parts still available to rebuild and maintain these ships?
Thanks in advance!
Allan

Well guy,

The boat has already kind-of left the dock. I did the exact thing you are contemplating in 1999 through 2007. I bought mine in airworthy but ratty looking condition for $25k. The Brantly factory still was alive and kicking in Texs and they had a good inventory of parts.

After spending $12k on parts and 1000 hours of labor, I had a very tight, fairly nice-looking ARMY YHO-3BR IMPOSTER. I flew it for 300+ hours and kept it for several years, selling it for $55,000.

BOY HAVE TIMES CHANGED! THE FACTORY HAS MOVED TO CHINA AND PARTS ARE NOT EASILY OBTAINED. A MAJOR A.D. WAS ISSUED ON THE TAIL ROTOR AND A SERIOUSLY DETRIMENTAL SERVICE BULLETIN HAS BEEN ISSUED ON ROTOR BLADES. The supply of serviceable, used blades has practically disappeared since this latest Service Bulletin, and there are no NEW -404 blades available.

If this S.B. becomes an A.D., as most feel it will...all of the airworthy Brantlys will turn into pumkins.

Wow that's really disappointing! I always felt the Brantley was a machine with a lot of potential for people like me who just want something relatively affordable to build time on and play with. I wasn't aware of the impact of the main rotor SB.
I was thinking that for, say $25k it might make sense to buy this one and keep it as my own personal spare parts inventory while I buy a decent flying one for, say $50k. I'd have $75k exposed but most, hopefully serviceable, parts that I might need. If I got 500 hours out of that and sold it for scrap value that might not be a bad deal compared to an R22? Any thoughts? Allan

Though I'm really aggravated about this sb right now the Brantly has endured and I think will again. In your scenario it does sound like you would have a compelling inventory of parts to keep you flying for many years. Ultimately we need new parts produced if the Brantly is going to be viable as a useful helicopter(training, utility work, etc). At present there's probably enough parts to keep them flying as sort of a collector/show piece but I hope it's not relegated to strictly that role.

The flip side is we need not only new parts produced but need them at a price point that makes sense in relation to the value of the helicopter. This latter point is the kicker. Limited numbers make this financially hard to pull off. It would be interesting to know the bottom line profit/loss for the Brantly factory for the last decade or so. Of course they never made any real effort to sell machines-perhaps because of limited financial backing-I don't know the answer to that. They did certainly help keep the machine flying and it sure was nice to be able to call the factory and get at least some information and parts via the OEM.