I’ve always said. There’s a reason H-60 pilots don’t love their airframe the same way a Phrog guy does. It comes down to the simple fact that it’s an extremely reliable platform. I can count on one hand the amount of issues I had flying it over 1400 hours. None of them were largely concerning, one of them was a PEL for a hyd pump. The Phrog guys I talk to all seem to have stories about how she “got them home.” You couldn’t pay me to fly that thing on the regular. Now, and updated one? Maybe.
Eh, H-60s, especially the real Seahawk variants, are super reliable and actually difficult to cause exceedances in compared to similar platforms. I love it. Every foreign pilot I've taken up in a 60 loves it. Our gadgetry might be out of date, but the platform is robust. It seems to me phrog guys mostly lament the loss of a tandem-rotor bird that you could sling around with little concern for sideward speed. I'm sure it was fun.
Put a Sierra pilot in a Romeo for VERTREP patterns and tell him he's limited to 35 kn sideward; his disappointment will be so great, you'll actually hear a sad trombone over ICS.
Also, times change and communities change. We have more rules and a different culture now. Senior HS bubbas would never shutup about the H-3 being God's chariot (and I tell JOs every day how the 60F & H were better than the R & S).
I think the fact that the 60 is so reliable and easy to use is what makes it so vanilla. I've always joked that the 60 is the Camry of helicopters. It's safe, reliable, easy to fly, easy to work on, and limited drama. If you as an individual were in the market for a "medium lift helicopter for your family" you'd probably buy a 60 for the same reasons so many people end up with accords and camries (is that the correct plural of camry?).
But the 60 experience isn't the same as that of a Phrog or a 46. Those guys loved their platforms because they ended up pouring so much sweat, blood, and tears in to them over having to work to fly them, weekend FCFs, and EPs. Flying a Phrog or a 53 has a lot more drama and a whole lot more "on a wing and a prayer."
If the 60 is a Camry then a 46 or 53 is the beater car you had in HS that you put tons of work in to. Sure the Red Dragon leaked and the gas gauge didn't work and every other weekend you were under the hood but it was loud as hell and mde you earn it. No matter how reliable a Camry might be it will never be as sexy as the Red Dragon.