The Bell 427 is a twin-engine, multirole, light utility helicopter designed and manufactured by
Bell Helicopter
Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in M ...
Bell 429
The Bell 429 GlobalRanger is a light, twin-engine helicopter developed by Bell Helicopter and Korea Aerospace Industries. First flight of the Bell 429 prototype took place on February 27, 2007,Bell 206
The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter progra ...
series, including the stillborn Bell 400 and 440 in the mid-1980s, and the limited-production Bell 206LT TwinRanger in the early 1990s.Frawley, Gerard. ''The International Directory of Civil Aircraft, 2003–2004'', p. 43. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd, 2003. . Bell's original concept for a replacement for the 206LT TwinRanger was the ''Bell 407T'', a relatively straightforward twin-engine development of the
Bell 407
The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter. A derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, the 407 uses the four-blade, soft-in-plane design rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa W ...
with two Allison 250-C22B engines. However, Bell concluded that the payload-range performance of the 407T would not be sufficient.Frawley, Gerard. ''The International Directory of Civil Aircraft, 2003–2004'', p. 47. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd, 2003. .
The company began development of a new light twin, in partnership with
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
's Samsung Aerospace Industries. In February 1996, Bell announced its ''Model 427'' at the Heli Expo in Dallas. The Bell 427 was the company's first aircraft designed entirely on computer. The Bell 427 first flew on December 11, 1997. Canadian certification was awarded on November 19, 1999, followed by US certification in January 2000, and US FAA dual pilot IFR certification in May 2000. Bell builds the 427's flight dynamics systems at
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, while final assembly is performed at Bell's
Mirabel, Quebec
Mirabel is a suburb of Montreal, located on the North Shore in southern Quebec.
Mirabel is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Quebec, coextensive with the city of Mirabel. It ...
facility. The 427's fuselage and tailboom are built by Samsung (later part of KAI) at its Sachon plant in South Korea. The first customer deliveries occurred in January 2000.Bell 427 page . Flug Revue, March 21, 2001.
In 2004, Bell offered a redesigned 427 version, the ''Bell 427i'', which was developed in partnership with South Korea's
Korea Aerospace Industries
Korea Aerospace Industries (Korean: 한국항공우주산업, Hanja: 韓國航空宇宙産業) (KAI) is a South Korean aerospace and defense company. It was originally established as a joint venture of Samsung Aerospace, Daewoo Heavy Industries' ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
's Mitsui Bussan Aerospace. The agreement gave KAI the development and production responsibility for the fuselage, cabin wiring, and fuel system. Mitsui Bussan became a financial backer. The 427''i'' included a newer glass cockpit and navigation systems to allow single pilot flying under
Instrument flight rules
In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR).
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...
. The design had a fuselage lengthened 1 ft 2 in (0.36 m), a more powerful engine version and transmission, and increased takeoff weight. However, the program was canceled and focus shifted to the improved
Bell 429
The Bell 429 GlobalRanger is a light, twin-engine helicopter developed by Bell Helicopter and Korea Aerospace Industries. First flight of the Bell 429 prototype took place on February 27, 2007,
The Bell 427 is powered by two
Pratt & Whitney Canada
Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC or P&WC) is a Canada-based aircraft engine manufacturer. PWC's headquarters are in Longueuil, Quebec, just outside Montreal. It is a division of the larger US-based Pratt & Whitney (P&W), itself a business unit of ...
FADEC
A full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC) is a system consisting of a digital computer, called an "electronic engine controller" (EEC) or "engine control unit" (ECU), and its related accessories that control all aspects of ai ...
. Like the Bell 407, the 427 uses a four-blade main rotor system with a rigid, composite rotor hub and a two-blade tail rotor.
The Bell 427's cabin is 13 in (33 cm) longer than the 407, and consists primarily of composite construction. The design removes the roof beam which obstructs the cabin on the 206/206L/407, and has an optional sliding main cabin door.
The 427 offers eight-place seating including pilot in a two+three+three arrangement. Alternate layouts include four in the main cabin in a club configuration, or two stretchers and two medical attendants for medical evacuation duties.
Paraguayan Air Force
The Armed forces of Paraguay ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Paraguay) consist of the Paraguayan army, navy (including naval aviation and marine corps) and air force.
The constitution of Paraguay establishes the president of Paraguay as the commander- ...
427
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Year 427 (Roman numerals, CDXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hierus and Ardabur (or, less frequen ...