In this quick video Kenny Keller answers a viewer’s question about choosing between an Enstrom (specifically the 480B) and a Robinson helicopter for personal ownership. He recounts his own near‑bankruptcy experience with an Enstrom fifteen years ago, noting how the market and his business have changed since then. Keller compares the two models: Enstroms offer larger baggage capacity and a rugged rotor system, making them suitable for private owners, while Robinsons (R44/480B) have broader market support, are better for commercial work, training, and 135 operations. He stresses that both aircraft are fundamentally safe and well‑built, but pilots often hear unfounded criticism of Robinsons. Keller then delves into the true cost of helicopter ownership, distinguishing predictable expenses (fuel, insurance, scheduled maintenance) from unpredictable, potentially catastrophic costs such as unexpected repairs (citing a $36,000 overspeed incident). He explains his current business model—leasing the helicopter, generating revenue through training, tours, and video production—to make ownership financially viable. Finally, he advises prospective buyers to only purchase if they have “money to throw away,” to double any advertised operating cost figures, and to choose the aircraft that matches their intended use: Enstrom for private, non‑commercial flying; Robinson for commercial operations.
Chapters
All right, quick video before I go home for the day. I got an email just walking out the door and I thought, you know what, I can shoot this in video just as probably as fast as I can try to type out an answer. Getting ready to go home and I got a question from a viewer. Kenny Keller, give me your take on an Enstrom, question mark. I've been watching your videos for a while and you said Enstrom almost bankrupt you. I'm looking to get my add-on. I was looking at a 480B. These pilots around here tell me to stay away from Robinsons. Any info or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. So pretty simple. I'll try to make it short and sweet. I think the Instrum is a great helicopter. I think the 480B is a great helicopter. I think Robinson's a great helicopter. All right. Yes, I did about go bankrupt with an Instrum, but that was 15 years ago plus and different world, different economy. And I didn't have the backing of Hogs behind me. With what I do today. And Enstrom being what it is, just a smaller company, they haven't— the amount of them, there's not as many Enstroms out there as there is Robinsons. So Enstrom, great helicopter. And I've done this video before, I've, I've had an Enstrom and a Robinson sitting by side. I was operating both at the same time, and I said, depending on what you want, R44 may be a better choice for you. Enstrom may be a better choice for you. Enstrom, for a private individual, probably the way to go. You got a bigger baggage, it's got that big heavy-duty beefy rotor system. They're cool helicopters. On the flip side of that, like what I do, I do training. We could do commercial work if we wanted to, we could do 135 ops if we wanted to. There's a lot of things we can do with the Robinson. And considering the business I'm in and helping people get checkrides finished up and some specialized training. Our audience is a lot bigger with Robinson because that's the most popular civil aircraft in the world. So I think either aircraft is a fine aircraft. I've operated both. And to the comment, well, you know, all the pilots around here says stay away from Robinsons— of course, that's the Robinson, you know, that's slowly going to keep changing over time. People badmouthing Robinsons, most of them don't know anything about them or have less than 10 hours. My examiner said that many years ago, and I've found that to be true. I think a Robinson, if you fly it the way it's intended to be flown, you get the proper training, you do the proper maintenance, give it the maintenance it needs, probably never going to have a problem. Same thing with an Enstrom. They're like built like tanks, super durable, safe aircraft as well. Time-tested, proven. They're both great aircraft in my opinion. So for this gentleman, what's my take? I think a 480B is a great helicopter if that's what's right for you. I think it's great. Don't just immediately snoot your nose at Robinson just because of what you heard, because again, and that's the age-old argument, and I don't even argue anymore, right? People are going to put in the comments, oh, it's a Robbie, blah blah blah, and it's like most of them don't even know anything about them, right? And like with anybody and anywhere, it's any product, people can always have problems with a certain reason. But anyway, so for answer this question, you know, and I've said the same thing for years, they're both great helicopters. Schweitzer's a great helicopter, the Cabri is a great helicopter. I like Jet Rangers, I love the BK117. Every single helicopter has pros, every single helicopter has cons. For any individual wanting to get into aircraft ownership. It's what's right for you. It's really what's right for you. And I've always said, you know, don't buy one unless you have money to just throw away. It's dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar, right? I said I'd never own one. And then I got this one. People go, you said you'd never own another helicopter. I don't. This is a lease helicopter now in the, in the form that I operate it. Yes, it's profitable, and I'm going to share with you in a video soon about what it actually cost me now in the third year. I want to share the numbers on what it takes for to operate a helicopter, and I'll show you the math. I'll lay it out to you, and I can tell you exactly what this one cost me an hour to operate in 2025. Hands down, no matter what helicopter you buy, I'm just going to pick ABC Helicopter. If the manufacturer says this helicopter is only $225 an hour to operate, Double it. If they say it's $500 an hour to operate, double it. And if you're going to buy an aircraft, have money to burn. And I mean money to burn. And I've been saying it for years, you buy a helicopter when you got money to throw away. That's it. In our case, this helicopter makes revenue. Can I afford this helicopter on my own? No, I could not afford the lease on this aircraft if I just wanted to operate it, go fly it and play in it. There's no way under the sun that I could ever afford that aircraft. Can I afford it in a business sense because I use it to make revenue, to use for training and teaching, and use it to make videos for Hogs? Yes, that's the only way I can do it. I can, I can operate that and I can make it profitable by flying revenue hours. And at this point, I have a decent maintenance fund. Back when I had the Enstrom, didn't have the kind of maintenance fund that I have now. And that's where you get into trouble, is when you have a breakdown that's not expected. Any helicopter, you can— you know what annuals are going to cost, you know what fuel is going to cost, you can get an idea what your insurance is going to cost. All those things make sense, and you can get those down on paper in black and white. What you can't expect— or I'm sorry, what are we doing? What the unexpected breakdowns are, what gets you, those things that aren't in your maintenance intervals, they're not in annuals, they're not in 100 hours, those things that just break. Or you make a dumb mistake moving the helicopter in and out and you close the door and it takes out the tail rotor, or you take out a main rotor. Thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. So it's not the actual cost, it's not the payment, it's not the insurance, it's not the scheduled maintenance. Those numbers you can deal with and you can figure that out and you can average those. But I'm telling you, after operating helicopters for a number of years, it's the unexpected things that happen that bite you. Unexpected maintenance, and damages, crashes, overspeeds, you know, publicized. I had an overspeed early on in the first year of operation with this. I— it happened under my watch. I'm responsible. Boom, $36,000 for an overspeed. Luckily, insurance paid part of it. It happened, and that's the kind of stuff that gets you. So there you go. To sum it up, I like all of them, and every helicopter has its place. Has pros and cons. If you're thinking about buying one, really do your research and buy what you like. What are you going to use it for? If you can actually buy one and just fly when you want to fly it, and you can afford it, and you can afford to maintain it— for this guy, I'd probably pick an Instrum if you're not going to do commercial stuff with it. But for a commercial operation, hands down, I would go for Robinson. Hands down. If I'm going to do training, tours, give rides, 135, sling loads, whatever. I'm going to do commercial operations with it. Hands down, I'm going to pick Robinson. All right, time to get out of here. Comment below, let us know. Get in there and get in there, Robinson haters, and just tell us how horrible they are. Because guess what? It'll all be brand new. We've never heard any of your comments before. We'll be surprised that every one of them gonna be like, wow, I never heard that before. All right, if you like the video, click like. If you don't like, click like twice. Peace out, see you next video.
