I'd love to hear more about the rotorway. I've gotten really interested in helos but I need one I can buy for cash due to insurance. An r44 just isn't practicable for me right now.

Start by going to the Rotorway Owners Group (ROG) http://www.rotorwayownersgroup.com

Lots of good information there. I enjoy my Rotorway but remember this when shopping; they are an experimental aircraft and there are lots of Rotorway aircraft that are pieces of junk.

Helicopters are maintenance intensive machines and the Rotorway is no exception. Sometimes people sell when they realize what it takes. Some people sell because they like to build, not necessarily fly.

When you get serious about buying, you must invest in one of the experienced members of ROG to help you do a pre-buy. There are several on ROG. Homer Bell was one of the original Rotorway engineers, Orv http://www.flywithorv.com has well over 10000 hours in Rotorways and has built and helped build numerous aircraft. There are others in the group that are very experienced and helpful. There are also several instructors who can train you for insurance purposes and even get you your helicopter PPL add-on. One experienced Rotorway guy is very close to you: Mark Peterson, CFI R/H, Foley, AL.

Insurance is not easy to find and expensive. Mine is well over double the cost to insure my Bonanza and I have 2600 hours of helicopter time.

So do your homework and then dive in! I love flying my Rotorway. Remember to fly is heavenly, to Hover divine!

Somehow I missed that Hill is also developing their own turbine.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/vUdkmH_sV14[/youtube]

little disheartening that this has been in development for 10 plus years and there are no actual photos of a prototype.

Much big smoke... many small mirrors.

If one is interested in owning a helicopter, the Safari does pretty well as an amateur-built helicopter and runs on a Lycoming engine. Its looks are very M*A*S*H Bell 47-like, so very retro. The Rotorway machines are about as modern-looking as you'll get in the "affordable" helicopter world. OK, maybe the Mosquito is a bit more sleek, but you'd better not be broad in the shoulders or they'll be protruding out the sides of the cockpit! lol

I've always thought an Enstrom would be the way to go - buy one that has good component times and live with the fact that's a machine which likely is many years old. I'm told Enstrom technical support is good (anybody have better info on this point?).

While a turbine helicopter makes terrific technical sense, it's a financial disaster for most working-class people. Just too expensive to operate and even more expensive to maintain.