Robinson Helicopter Co have confirmed to HeliHub.com that the recently announced empennage will be made available as a retrofit kit for earlier production aircraft.  The new configuration is standard on all FAA-registered R66 production aircraft from MSN 1279, and other countries will follow once approval has been given by the relevant civil airworthiness authorities.

The new empennage provides enhanced roll response during high-speed flight – in all other respects it apparently provides nearly identical flying qualities. The FAA has certified the new feature very recently, following years of development and testing by Robinson.

The change does not alter the authorised flight envelope in any way.

Robinson has not released the date or price of the retrofit kit at this time.