Piston Helicopters For Sale

About Piston Helicopters

Like early airplanes, early helicopters were powered by reciprocating piston engines. Modern versions of piston helicopters are still being built today by companies such as Enstrom and Robinson, although they’ve become less numerous than more expensive turbine helicopters.

Piston-powered helicopters are known for their affordability, manoeuvrability, and lightweight construction. They are used for training, law enforcement, tourism, surveillance, agriculture, traffic reports, newsgathering, and other purposes.

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Robinson R44 Raven II Piston Helicopter

On The Market

Piston-powered helicopters generally have two to four seats. Their asking prices on ControllerEMEA.co.uk range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of euros or more. The site showcases brand-new models in current production as well as vintage models from the 1950s. Total time can range from zero hours on a brand-new unit to 7,500 hours or more on a chopper that has seen heavy use.

Helicopter History

The concept for helicopters dates to a 400 B.C.-era Chinese book that provided details for how to construct a “flying top” helicopter-like toy. Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, and other notable inventors also designed helicopter-like concepts and developments over the years.

A French bicycle maker, Paul Cornu, achieved the first manned free flight in a rotary-winged aircraft on November 13, 1907 in Coquainvilliers near Lisieux. The twin-rotor “Flying Bicycle” he designed and built was powered by a 24-horsepower (18-kilowatt) piston engine made by Antoinette. Cornu’s machine was somewhat impractical, but it did hover a foot or more off the ground for about 20 seconds.

Later, Russian-born Igor Sikorsky flew the first practical, working helicopter, his piston-powered VS-300, on September 14, 1939 at Stratford, Connecticut. Sikorsky’s R-4 (1942) is generally credited as the first helicopter put into mass production. In that same year, Germany’s radial-engined Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri became the first helicopter to enter military service.

Find The Right Piston Helicopter

You’ll find an ever-changing selection of new and pre-owned piston helicopters for sale on ControllerEMEA.co.uk from manufacturers such as Bell, Enstrom, Hiller, Hughes, Magni Gyro, Robinson, RotorWay, and Schweizer.