During a visit last year with the new owners and leaders of MD Helicopters, I had an opportunity for a demo flight in the MD530F, one of the three 500-series models on the company’s production lines. As MD recovered from bankruptcy and resumed growing, the new owners focused on the most popular models, and the factory is humming with MD 500Es, MD530Fs, and the military version of the latter, the TH-AH-530 or Cayuse Warrior.

Officially, the MD530F is the marketing name for the model 369FF, derived from the Hughes model 369 that started life in 1965 as the OH-6 Cayuse military helicopter. The 530F has longer main rotor blades and a larger engine than the 500E and thus provides better performance in hot and high conditions.

MD Helicopters training and demo pilot CJ Schneider III flew the demo; at the time I flew with Schneider, I was about halfway through earning my commercial rotorcraft add-on in a Guimbal Cabri G2 trainer, so the 530F would be a significant boost in performance and capability. It was also a great introduction to the performance and handling of a larger helicopter compared to the trainer.

When Schneider teaches experienced helicopter pilots to fly the 530F, the transition course includes 16 hours of ground training and five hours of flying, including full touchdown autorotations. Many customers, especially police departments and utility operators, send pilots to MD for annual recurrent training, which includes eight hours of ground training and three flight hours. Buyers of new ships get two pilot training slots and also maintenance training.

The 530F is powered by a 650-shp Rolls-Royce 250-C30 turboshaft engine and features a five-blade, fully articulated rotor system with a two-blade conventional tail rotor.

With a mtow of 3,350 pounds, the 530F can carry an internal load of 1,627 pounds and fly 223 nm. Vne is 134 knots.

There are two crash-resistant elastomeric fuel cells (an auxiliary cell is optional), and these are protected by crash-resistant keel beams and bulkheads below the cabin floor, according to MD. “A three-dimensional truss-type structure with an internal roll bar protects the pilot and passengers and offers increased occupant safety.”

What helicopter pilots appreciate about the MD machines is their precise handling. “People say you just strap it on,” said MD's Schneider. “It’s the Ferrari of the skies.”

Helicopters drive the main rotor blades from a driveshaft connected to the main gearbox, but in the MDs, instead of the main rotor hub mounting to the mast and transmitting flight loads into the gearbox, the MD has a hollow mast attached to the gearbox. Inside that hollow mast, a driveshaft connects the gears to the rotating hub. The result is that flight loads are transmitted directly to the fuselage, and that provides a more direct response to control movement. This design also allows for a smaller gearbox because it doesn’t directly absorb flight loads.