Nice Tattoo…
(CIRCA 2014…)
Whats going on at MD Helicopters lately? Lynn’s gone, the new branding looks more like a tattoo than a logo and what ever happened to that MD600 with the 500D tail feathers that was touted to reinvigorate the helicopter market?
Successful business’s focus on what their customers want and build to ensure what they offer will actually sell. MD seem to be doing their best to make it as hard as possible for someone to buy one of their aircraft and I can’t see a vitriolic logo doing anything to revive belief in the brand nor helping the rest of the world to embrace this company. Like a prophet in the wilderness, I have long bemoaned the current sales strategy of MD Helicopters and their lack of attentiveness to the civil market. Nobody at MD wants to hear it anymore but auditing the outcomes of the last five years it is apparent our opinions are being validated with a public display of less than ideal outcomes for the brand in the market.
Take for example the beleaguered Colonel of the Afghanistan Airforce who is where all the think tanks, industry study groups, weekend retreats and brainstorming ideas have come to rest. This fellow has a mandate to stop the Taliban and has made some fairly clear observations about the limitations of his MD530G steed. The G model is basically a 530FF model [which is a reborn 500E model but more on that another time] with somewhere to mount guns and rockets. It has a range of 80 nm’s fully loaded with about 20 mins on target. Any longer and you will flame out heading back to base. This is a guy who has a big problem, he can’t get to the battle and when he does, there isn't a means to aim the weapons. A problem that isn’t new as seen here [scroll forward to 2:20 to see all the fun]
I’m not a military man but even I know that the ‘little birds’ are designed for close in support. Zipping around cities, short range and tight landing areas - fun stuff. The war in Afghanistan is in the mountains and if you are heading into the hills the Apache, MI-24 Hind or Blackhawk are first choice. You need serious grunt and a real threating presence not a “gunship” that can’t be aimed.
One complexity of selling to the Military is that you cannot have one price for them and one for the civil market. Everyone has to be on a level playing field and the strategy from MD has been to focus on the military contracts and increase pricing to support military grade equipment. The end result is a rumour that you now pay $3.3M USD for an MD500E which is more than an H125 delivered with paint, avoinics and a hook to get out working. Call someone at MD to ask what you actually get for your money and nobody can confirm that new MD500E comes with radios.
Comparing Bell, Airbus and even Augusta Westland – MD have succeeded in pricing the MD530 so that it will never sell to anyone but the local Sheriff’s Department or your equatorial 3rd world government. At the end of the day, that is their right and they have had massive success with this business model.
Historically, the MD500 series helicopter has always been a very sexy idea and around our part of the world it was the aircraft to own once upon a time. The type had a massive impact on Rotary Aviation and as time has moved on, MD invested in some great ideas (NOTAR) but not much in the way of increased capability in the light to intermediate sector. Very gradually Hughes/MD painted itself into a corner and lost appeal as the aircraft became obsolete to the key US, Europe and Canadian utility markets.
So where to from here? The current strategy has ostracized the civil market and the pool of MD500 airframes which are gradually corroding, hitting the ground too hard, working off the back of a tuna boat or being retired for parts; are not being replaced. Where they ruled the sky's in the 1970/80’s the factory has sold only a few civil airframes in the last decade and the funnel analogy of diminishing product which drives the demand for spares in the future predicts the MD500 being as regularly seen as a Brantly B2 in the next few decades.
It’s well and good to complain but what about a solution? Consider this; roll back to the MD500E, slip on the 6 bladed 530F Main Rotor Hub, shoe in the Rolls Royce M250 series IV engine with FADEC, install Garmin 650H, stronger skids off the MD520N [increased internal GW] and work to a budget of $2.0M USD. Sell the idea, take non-refundable deposits and start the rivet guns.
Would that get your attention? Sure the MD500e isn’t a new idea but consider that we are;
a. The Bell 505 hasn’t impacted the utility market yet.
b. the EC120B still struggles to take off
c. the SW4 is not certified and never will be.
and the Robinson R66 sales are a big deal in Brazil only
We have a light helicopter sector in limbo. That’s my opinion – what do you think?