Don’t get me wrong. I am not excusing Bell for resting on its laurels when it comes to its commercial product line. I just don’t think that translates into Bell Engineering being inherently flawed, and that the whole product line should be trashed.
From what I’ve seen, Bell has failed to continuously improve upon and evolve its existing products. The 412 is in its position today only because of its legacy of continuously improving on a good product. But the basic 412 received certification in ’81, and the last improvement, the EP, came out in ’91. She’s definitely due for an update – but not a replacement in my opinion.
My opinion - for what its worth - in other areas: The 407 a great ship that deserves a new (not tweeked) design from the tail disconnect back, and some of the rotor work done for the 427 could be applied to get even more out of the rotor on the 407. The 430 needs improved avionics and systems, and they should go back and unleash the extra speed that’s there, but couldn’t afford to get certified in the initial design. The little 206B model either needs to come up in technology or down in price if it wants to stay alive. The poor little 427, however, is a tough call. Bell needs a light twin in its line up, but as someone pointed out, it’s a very limited market. Would Bell do better working from the 427? Or would it be better off with a lower cost version of the 430 (something more akin to a 222/230 airframe with a 4 blade system)? Or maybe Bell needs to start from scratch there again? But I tell ya, after the Bell 400, the TwinRanger, and now the 427, Bell doesn’t exactly have a stellar history for putting the puck-in-the-net when it comes to the light twin department.
I still think it’s sad that the great minds in the FTC thought it necessary to prevent Bell from picking up MD’s commercial line (and thereby moving its ownership to Europe – yeah, that was good for the country!) I think the mix of the two company’s technologies would have done the products well – as the mix of MBB and Aerospatiale technology has done Eurocopter well. I’d hate to see the world end up with just Eurocopter, plus a bunch of small niche helicopter companies.
