Peering Into the Florida Night

Founded in 1973 by the near legendary Frank Robinson, a former employee of both the Bell and Hughes Helicopters, the Robinson Helicopter Company delivered its first helicopter in 1979, and has since built and delivered over 12,000 aircraft.

Robinson produces three helicopter models, the two-seat R22, the four-seat R44–both of which are powered by Lycoming piston engines, and the five-seat R66, which is motivated by Rolls-Royce’s 224-shaft-horsepower RR300 turbine powerplant. Working at full-capacity, Robinson’s Torrance, California factory is capable of producing as many as one-thousand helicopters per year.

On 30 September 2022, Robinson Helicopter received FAA certification for the Night Vision Goggle (NVG) compatible configuration of its R66 police helicopter. Such certification is predicated upon evaluation of the helicopter’s interior and exterior lighting, as well as its instruments and avionics—all of which must be deemed conducive to day or night flight operations with or without the use of night vision goggles.

The Florida Polk County Sheriff Office's (PCSO) second R66 Police helicopter (S/N 1158) is fully NVG compatible and served as the test bed for certification. The aircraft was delivered to the sheriff’s office on 30 September 2022. A third NVG-compatible R66 Police helicopter is slated for delivery to the PCSO in January 2023.

Centrally headquartered between Orlando and Tampa, the Polk County Sheriff Office provides air support for every law enforcement agency in its two-thousand-square-mile jurisdiction, as well as surrounding counties. Much of the terrain thereabouts consists of lakes and flatlands with little to no artificial illumination. Ergo, NVG goggles are essential to aerial law-enforcement missions. The PCSO air support unit flies an average of 1,100-hours-per-year.

FMI: www.robinsonheli.com