Shortly after the announcement that M1 Support Services had won the Flight School Next contract, we sat down with Robinson President, David Smith, to talk about the challenges of being the airframe supplier for the winning bid. We wondered, given the requirement for the R66 to be not only IFR capable but also delivered in large numbers, would present problems for the company.
“Not so,” said Smith, First of all, we are very confident that the IFR certification will be achieved soon, in fact the FAA team were here in Torrance earlier this week and they were happy with the combination of the R66 with Garmin’s GFC500H”.
What about meeting the demand for aircraft not only from M1 but also from Robinson’s wider customer base? “We have the capacity to increase production rates, As you know, the rate challenges we’ve had with the 66 have centred on engine deliveries.
But we think that with FSN, and the potential for other defence contracts, like MARV-EL Rolls Royce have motivated to make the investment need to fix the supply chain and improve the availability of RR300s, because the see this isn’t just going to be a passing spike in demand but a long-term business”. In terms of a timeline Robinson expects the first TH-66 for FSN to arrive at Fort Rucker late in the first quarter or early in the second of 2027, with the first aircraft targeted for staff standardisation.
In addition, to the potential for growth in interest in the TH-66 driven by flight school next, Smithe says that Robinson has been fielding a number of calls from other service training units as the TH-66 progressed in FSN selection “I think they’ve seen what first M1 saw in the TH-66, and the Army too and it’s for the same reasons that the lightbulbs came on for them so they are coming on for others too”. Smith says that this work is going to yield benefits for civilian and public service operators of the R66 given the high commonality (in terms of avionics fit and options like the impact resistant windscreen the TH-66 is identical to Robinson’s R66 NxG Riviera offering).
Of course, FSN and gearing up for UAV projects like MARV-EL are not the only irons Robinson has in the fire the development of the R88 is also continuing at pace with the first components and structural parts for the company’s big single being created at Torrence and Smith says that project too remains on track to meet the company’s first flight expectations. Likewise, Smith points to the fact that much of the work that the company has been doing with the FAA on IFR certification for the Garmin G500H TXi/GTN 750 avionics suite in the TH-66 is transferable to the R88 since it shares the same avionics architecture although with a four axis rather than three axis autopilot.
