MD500D's Sunnyside Up

Georgina Hunter-Jones

HELICOPTER LIFE visited Biggin Hill Helicopters for a test flight on the MD500D

Nicknamed the Flying Egg by the US military (or when loaded for combat the Killer Egg) the forerunner of the Hughes 369 was extensively used in Vietnam. Its real name was the OH-6A Cayuse and it became an entity after it won the contract for the US Army LOH (Light Observation Helicopter) in 1963, when it was also nicknamed the LOACH. All the current variations on the 369/500 derive from this original design.

The Hughes 369D I flew at Biggin Hill with Chief Pilot Bill Lowry was less killer egg than Private Dick's transport: it had come from Hawaii and was 'apparently' the very helicopter used in the television show Magnum P.I. Whether or not this is the actual one, it, like Magnum's helicopter, had the later T-tail design and five-blade main rotor. (Although this helicopter was a Hughes 369 I am going to use the more current term MD500 for ease of description).

As we did the walk round before flight Bill pointed out a few major differences from earlier models of the 500. The D has quick release pins in the main rotor head which allow two blades to be folded back so that there...