Bell has delivered the 2,000th Bell 407, nearly three decades after the single-engine helicopter entered service as a modern development of the 206L LongRanger family.
The milestone aircraft was handed over to White Saddle Air Services, a family-owned operator based in British Columbia, Canada. Like other commercial Bell helicopters, it was produced at the company's facility in Mirabel, Quebec.
The Bell 407 entered production in 1996 and remains in the catalog today as the 407GXi. The current version is powered by a Rolls-Royce M250-C47E/4 turboshaft and accommodates a pilot and up to six passengers.
Its 2,000 deliveries also put the 407 beyond the production total of its direct predecessor. More than 1,700 examples of the 206L LongRanger family were produced before Bell ended production in 2017.
LongRanger roots
The connection between the two helicopters is much deeper than their similar appearance. Bell developed the 407 from the 206L-4 LongRanger, retaining the basic seven-seat concept while introducing a wider cabin and a four-blade main rotor derived from technology used on the military OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.
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The first 407 flew in June 1995, certification followed in 1996 and customer deliveries began later that year. For more than two decades, however, the 407 and LongRanger remained in production together rather than one immediately replacing the other.
Both belong to a lineage that began with the Bell 206 JetRanger in the 1960s. The original five-seat JetRanger became one of the most recognizable light helicopters in the world, while the stretched 206L LongRanger added two seats and greater capability from the 1970s.
Bell eventually produced more than 7,000 civil helicopters across the wider 206 family. That figure is not directly comparable with the 407's 2,000 deliveries: the 206 accumulated its total across several variants over roughly half a century and during a very different period for the light-helicopter market.
Three decades in production
The 407 itself has evolved considerably since the original model. The current 407GXi was introduced in 2018 with the more powerful M250-C47E/4 engine, dual-channel FADEC and Garmin G1000H NXi avionics.
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Bell markets the helicopter for missions ranging from corporate and utility transport to law enforcement and emergency medical services. The basic formula, however, remains the same one inherited from the LongRanger: a relatively light, seven-seat helicopter powered by a single turboshaft.
The five-seat segment once occupied by the 206B JetRanger is now served by the Bell 505, which entered service in 2017, seven years after JetRanger production ended.
