what kind of helicopter is this?

It's a Schweizer 333. One came into CID a couple months back. Pretty good sized machine. Development off the old Hughes/Schweizer 300

Mike,

It is a Schweizer upgraded 333 version of the 330SP because of the Mexican flag. Made in the USA.

The 333 specs: Three-four seats, power is one Rolls Royce 250-C20W turboshaft derated from 420 shp to 232 shp. The Mexican government ordered 5 333's for delivery during 2004 for airborne patrol and law enforcement duties by the Mexican Procuraduria General de la Republica's Agencia General de Investigacion. The PGR on it suggests it is one of the first 5. Subsequently, 8 more ordered by Mexico for law enforcement, border patrol and drug interdiction.

Follow Michael's XC-LJI entry, I found (to my surprise) XC-LJI is the only 333 exist in our database. That doesn't sound right. After some quick research, it turned out Schweizer 330 and 333 are actually Schweizer 269D in FAA's database.

On this page, it says:

*FAA Designation Model 269C = Marketing Designation Model 300C

*FAA Designation Model 269C-1 = Marketing Designation Model 300CBi

*FAA Designation Model 269D = Marketing Designation Model 330/333

XC-LJI profile updated to 269D.

Ken

Ken,

That seems to be an arbitrary decision of the FAA and perhaps in question for a couple of reasons. My 2006-2007 Janes states in the Schweizer entry that the 300 series has a Schweizer Engineering designation of 269, (its piston powered antecedent), not Marketing designation. Further, the 300 series are substantially larger and after the 300C are all turbine powered such as the 330, 330SP and the 333. Seems our FAA is mixing apples and oranges together, my opinion. You are correct in stating it doesn't sound right.

There are a lot more 330s and 330SPs out there. The San Antonio, TX police use 330s, the US Navy RQ-8A Fire Scout Northrop-Grumman VTOL UAV is based on the 333; ditto the proposed armed MQ-8A for the US Marine Corps. Chesapeake Bay Helicopters of Virginia uses a 333, as does Aero Optics in Wisconsin and multiple 333 buys by the Dominican Air Force are in use.

I suppose you are constrained by the FAA classification, but would it make more sense to call it Schweizer 269/300 series for searching and accuracy?