Aircraft Recognition Study - Enstrom Comparison

If you're anything like me, you view piston-powered helicopters as annoyances that should eradicated from the skies (or at least from the world of Aircraft Rec) as soon as possible. I will never forget the time I walked underneath a Robinson R22's main rotor blade, looked up, blew air at it...and watched it bounce up and down from the force of my breath.

But as irritating as these tiny pull-start, mix-the-oil-and-fuel conveyances are, each one is good for three points on a Rec test. And so, they should be studied.

Here then, is a great visual I found on an Enstrom site:

Not too many major differences are evident between the two models. Most noticeable, perhaps, is the door design. The Falcon's door is just one big window, whereas the Shark's door actually has a solid panel on the bottom. The window line is smooth and consistent on the Falcon, whereas the transition from front to side window on the Shark is more crude.

The lower nose windows are different, but it would be difficult to visually identify the subtle differences on a Rectest.

Finally, the roof intakes are quite a bit different, so that's something to look for, as well.