The JetRanger grows up

Georgina Hunter-Jones

HELICOPTER LIFE visited the Bell Helicopter plant in Fort Worth TX where Capt Randy Rowles took Georgina Hunter-Jones for a test flight on the Bell 407.

The Bell 407 was not only the first single engine helicopter to arrive at the South Pole, it was also the first recorded helicopter to fly across Drake's Passage (other helicopters and gyrocopters have been used in the South Pole but they were transported there by boat). This flight was done in 2003 by Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill, who are now planning to recreate this flight and continue on to the North Pole, thus aiming to become the first single helicopter to fly from one pole to the other (Steve Brookes and Quentin Smith have flown to both poles in Robinson R44s, but not in the same machine).

Based on the standard Bell type (the fuselage is a Long Ranger body with the interior replaced by a capsule which gives an extra eight inches of width in the cabin) the machine is immediately familiar to those used to flying the JetRanger, but there are quite significant differences. The most immediately difference is that while the JetRanger has two blades the 407 has four, which allows lower angles of attack and thus lower disc loading. The blades are composites, which can be a problem at extreme temperatures, but otherwise is...