Nigel Colclough, MD of UK engineering firm Pressfab, has invested in an additional Hughes 369E (Hughes 500). “I bought this aircraft six months ago to replace another one I had,” he explains. “I bought it to eventually sell it. I see them as good aircraft to invest in and then sell on. This one had been inactive for five or six years. The previous owner fell ill so I bought it after he unfortunately passed away, and now I’m having it all painted up, the engine sorted out and so on. I’ll spend a bit of money on it and get it right, and then sell it.”

Colclough sees this model of helicopter as very versatile and safe. “You can do anything with them, and they can get you out of trouble. They are small, so they can be dropped into tight areas. You can be up in the air within a minute of starting them up. I fly around on business. I don’t do any lifting with it or anything like that. I’m just in and out of places, and using the Hughes you can get in and out of small gardens and other areas easily. They are quite a quick aircraft too – you can cruise at 125-130 kts.”

He buys and sells helicopters and, in addition to the engineering company, he is responsible for several properties. “The Hughes covers everything; I can go and look at property with it and get in to sites, to get a view of properties I’m buying, or I can fly to different customers. Time is valuable, so the helicopter gets me around the country quite quickly.”

He also has a Twin Squirrel at the moment, but plans to stick with the 500 because it ticks all his boxes. Flying mainly on his own for business, the size of the Hughes suits. “I can put things in the back of it, and it has a two-and-three-quarter hour range, so it’s perfect for me. I did look at buying a brand new Squirrel, but I just couldn’t justify it. It doesn’t do anything more than the Hughes, and when I get back in the Hughes, I just prefer it.”

Like many, he has not been going out nearly as much at the moment: “Over the last year I’ve probably done about 10 per cent of the flying I would usually do, because you can’t get to see people. You still have the maintenance costs and everything, so annually it’s a similar cost, but you just can’t get out to see people and do business. We hope to get back to normal as soon as possible.

“The Hughes 500 really is so safe; that’s the biggest reason I’ve got it. The original one I’ve got I bought six years ago, and I’ve sold about 20 helicopters in the last six years. My one is always for sale but I tend to keep it because I feel it is safer using the same one all the time. You can fly it in high winds. Other than fog or bad visibility, I’ll fly it in any weather.”