Three 206s are better than one S76 .
We are frequently asked to provide an action helicopter to deliver a platoon of soldiers or Police swat squad.
However, there is a professional reality. A helicopter that will take 12 persons (i.e. an S76) typically is £1500 to £1700 per hour (and in most cases designed for luxury use).
Helicopters such as the Jetranger / Hughes 500 are around £500 per hour and carry 4 passengers, therefore the arithmetic is simple, you can get 3 Jetrangers for the price of one S76.
It is much faster to get troops out of 3 helicopters than it is out of one. Helicopters on a TV screen are by nature all a similar shape, but it is difficult to determine their size and therefore when getting "value for budget" it is perceived by most that a production using 3 helicopters on it must be larger than one with only one.
It also allows more action. In the film Apocalypse Now, for the sequence with US Marines attacking the village, following the famous formation shots over the sea, comparatively few helicopters were used, each flying a distinct racetrack pattern at different heights and thus achieving safe separation, but the overall effect was of airborne chaos which provided excellent production value.
