Thanks. That sounds reassuring.
The delivery pilot dropped it off today. He owns another 300C and was impressed with the power and smoothness, it could even be sweeter than his own one he thinks. The Hughes/Schweizer 269 seems to be the “little big” helicopter, you climb up into it with its traditional controls and in the air, it comes across as being steady compared to some of its two-bladed competition. The one we bought has a host of late-model upgrades, from the wide instrument panel to differences in shafts/tailboom/head that our mechanic was very glad of. The engine has only 100hrs from overhaul at Nicholson Mc so there is some comfort in that. Some of the guys at the airfield who had owned/flown helicopters were impressed and thought it was not so bad after all 
Training commences shortly.
Congratulations William it looks a great buy, keep posting updates
Interesting to see a Lycoming 360 running at over 3000 rpm continuously, compared with 2700 max rev limit for the fixed wing versions of the engine. When the fixed wing version is run over red line rpm for a period, its usually the propeller overspeed that is a greater issue – the engine will take it.
I loved the Schweizer 300. It flies like a big heli and is well built. Looks flimsy, but it’s pretty sturdy. But it is slow and kind of utilitarian. Lots of exposed stuff, braces, wires etc.
I remember the two hardest things during my training was the LTE stuff and the sliding landings with lost tail rotor. They take some time to nail. Hovering is hard initially, but once it clicks, it clicks. Trick for me was to look much further away – then it was easy. When I was looking at the ground, I was always reacting too late. And funnily enough, after not having set my foot in a helicopter for 25 years, a few years back I took an hours instruction out of Van Nuys, and sure enough, the hovering came right back! It’s like riding a bike.
Hovering is hard initially, but once it clicks, it clicks. Trick for me was to look much further away – then it was easy. When I was looking at the ground, I was always reacting too late.
Same here. Indeed like learning to ride a bike. In my case quite abrupt, as I suddenly got the feeling and then it sticks. The things I continued to find challenging were taxiing with the tail rotor blowing into a (gusty) wind and the fact that in a R44 when adding power you need left foot rather than right as you would in a fixed wing.
the fact that in a R44 when adding power you need left foot rather than right as you would in a fixed wing.
I think there was one Spitfire that went to the rats on takeoff: it had the Griffon engine but the pilot was more used to the Merlin engine…
Yes, all the old Hughes helis are flown from the left. Never understood why the others are flown from the right.
I think the right seat is preferable. With your right hand on the stick, you can use your left hand to operate radio and other stuff that’s in the centre.
I learned on Enstrom which was also left seat and it is a pain to use radio, transponder, gps. Without SAS your hand never leaves the stick and you find yourself wobbling around as your left hand has to temporarily fly while your right changes frequency.
