3 November 2025
The founder and owner of Hill Helicopters, Dr Jason Hill, says the company plans to build a high-performance, pressurised, six-seat single-engine turboprop fixed-wing aircraft capable of over 300 knots.
Plus – there’s more! – a twin-engine turboprop, which he’s nicknamed ‘a baby business jet’, for enhanced capability and cross-continent travel.
Dr Hill was giving the latest update from the British company as it nears the first start of Hill’s own turbine engine which will power the helicopter and other projects.
Hill Helicopters HC50
“The HX50/HC50 are merely the foundation for a much larger product family aimed at fundamentally reforming the broader GA landscape,” said Dr Hill.
He also confirmed that Hill Helicopters is aiming for high production numbers for the HX50 (experimental) and HC50 (certified) with 500 helicopters in the first year, ramping up to 1,000 a year.
“It’s not a big number when you compare it with other manufacturing,” he said. “It’s a big number for General Aviation because they [manufacturers] don’t have the demand because prices are too high.”
Dr Hill also tackled the question of delays and the impact on the company’s finances.
“Because we’ve sold so many and kept our overheads down, we remain in a really strong position financially,” he said. “We have a long cash runway ahead of us and with a £700m order book and the whole business owned by me this is about the most investable aviation proposition anywhere.”
As well as the two single-engine helicopters and the fixed-wing projects, Dr Hill also confirmed that there will be a larger twin-engine 8-seat HC80 helicopter in the future.
Watch the full update here:
Earlier in October, Hill Helicopters gave details and visuals for the HX50/HC50 helicopter’s flight deck which will include Hill’s own Synthetic Vision display.
