Short interview (HAI Heli Expo 2019) where Kenny Keller and Dennis Martin (Director of Sales & Marketing, Enstrom Helicopter) discuss the 2019 Enstrom 280 FX updates. Key changes described: new TT-strap rotor head (replacing Lambaflex), five-year straps supplied by Airwolf, super-wide externally-hinged 480-style doors, illuminated/backlit avionics panels, 480-style dual collectives with dualed switches and dual start, full LED lighting including pulse landing light, ADS‑B In/Out via Garmin GTX 345 transponder and Garmin 650 touchscreen MFD, and optional Aspen EFD glass for IFR training. The speakers emphasize improved ergonomics for pilots/instructors and value for training schools.
Chapters
Hey Kenny. With helicopter aligned ground school and we promised a video on the NSTROM helicopter. Most of you watching our videos have heard me talk about them and the great auto rotation and all the cool things about an Instrom, but I haven't been to the factory in a while so I don't know really the latest things happening. So we have Dennis here from NSTROM Helicopter who's just going to take a few minutes to let you know what's going on with Instrum that's, you know, recently come out, any advancements and what's going to be happening in the near future. So just go ahead and grab a hold there and just let us know.
Yeah, no problem. Thanks Kenny. Big fan of the videos. We love watching everything you have online. As he mentioned, my name is Dennis Martin, I'm the director of sales and marketing for Enstrom Helicopter. And what we got here we have a brand new 2019280 FX and it's got a lot of sort of neat updates for this year. We'll start with the rotor head because that's kind of the magic in the nstrom and we actually did this last year. So it's not new for 19, but we'll call it new is we, we have a full TT strap rotor head now, so no more Lambaflex bearings in these. We use a Lambaflex forever. They work good, everybody loves them, but the TT straps are a little bit better. We have a five year strap from Airwolf so it doesn't cost any more in the Lamaflex. And what's really neat about it is it allows us to do some things in the control system that actually lightens up the collective a little bit. So it makes it a nicer flexibility flying helicopter. So not only is your mechanic going to like it, but for the pilots, you know, we give them something a little more fun too. It's a little more stick and rudder fun. But probably for 2019, the most exciting thing we came out with is the new super wide doors. So for those of you that have seen some of the older 280s. Yeah, there you go. You know, the older 280s, beautiful looking helicopter, you know, won lots of industrial design awards. But the doors were always kind of narrow and small. And so you've got this. Yeah, so you've got this helicopter that's big guy friendly, you know, you can get, you know, six and six and a half footers in there, 300 pounders, but they couldn't get it. They couldn't get through the door. And so we went with the 480 style door. It's externally hinged, opens a lot wider, actually saves a little bit of weight. Makes it easier to change the window. So all around it's just a, it's just a win. Went everywhere. And so our engineering team really pulled that one off. We're pretty happy about that. Yeah. Yep. The other thing we did for 19 is we went to new illuminated panels for all the avionics, circuit breakers and switches and things like that. So just like the 480, you know, you've got these really cool backlit illuminated panels. Makes it a lot easier to see at night, to see what's going on. And it's just a really nice, nice, clean, professional look. And then the collectives. So we went with 480 style collectives. This isn't a tiny little floppy stick you grab. It's a great big heavy collective, you know, that feels like you really got a hold of something. And what's kind of neat, yeah, it puts all the switches there and it's all dueled. So as the instructor, you've got all the light switches and everything dualed. And you've got the start switch dual. So, you know, you can start the helicopter from either seat now, which is, which is kind of nice for the instructors. And, you know, for guys that are going to transition into the turbine, you know, everything's going to kind of feel the, feel the same. So we're pretty excited about that. That was a, that was a nice upgrade. And speaking of lighting, all LED lighting now, so LED landing lights and we've got the LED pulse light on the front. And until you've kind of experienced it, you would be amazed how easy that pulse light is to see. It really makes the helicopter stand out in the airspace. Full ADS B compliant now. So Garmin GTX 345 transponder. So you've got ADS B in and out. So you know you're good for the 2020 mandate there. The latest Garmin 650 with all the latest software, touchscreen that's kind of neat. And then this one has an Aspen EFA system in it. So for students that want to train glass cockpit, we've got the Aspen. You can do a single tube or a dual tube Aspen. And what's kind of nice is you can turn this into an IFR training helicopter pretty inexpensively. So you got a glass cockpit IFR training helicopter. So, you know, all that combined really, really makes it, you know, we kind of looked at what can we do to make This a little bit better helicopter. What can we do to help the instructors out? What can we do to give the schools a little more value? You know, an aircraft that you can do primary training and instrument training, etcetera, you know, what can we do to give a little more value to our customers? And that's what we did for with the new NSTROM here.
I think those are just. Even though it's just a few things, I really like the door that is easier to get in and out of.
You wouldn't think a door would be such a big deal, but it, you know, you have to get in and out of it every time you fly.
I can tell. I've been getting in out of a newer 280 back at home. Getting in there is definitely easier, and I like that a lot and everything else. Yeah, that collective is cool. The lighting, I like the black. How it's like the black matte now on the controls. Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
We used to do chrome. We blacked all that.
That's nice. That just gives it a more modern look.
Yeah. Yeah.
Hey, I thank you very much for sharing that with us because that gives a lot of people reasons to now even more reason to go check out the nstrom. It's not just the same old helicopter. It's, you know, it's the time tested, proven, been around forever, but with now some more modern upgrades. That's really, really cool.
Yeah. Everything you've always loved about Enstrom, and then we've just. We've just made it better, so. And we appreciate. Again, Kane, we appreciate everything you do. You know, spreading the word and all the great, great instruction you give and the online stuff, it's really helping the community come together.
Awesome.
And making us all better pilots.
Well, I appreciate it very much. All right, well, hey, comments down below about the instrument, and we'll do our best to enter them. Might be a day or two till I get back home. We're kind of overwhelmed with comments right now, but put them down below and we'll answer them as we can. Subscribe, click the bell and we'll see you in the next video.
