Bell / Agusta Bell 412 – Medium Transport Helicopter USA / Italy

The 412 helicopter is manufactured by Bell Helicopters and also by AgustaWestland under a licensed production arrangement for the European, African and Middle East civil and military markets.

The first flight of the Bell 412 was in 1979 and the Agusta Bell AB 412 first flew in 1981. Since then over 700 have been produced and are operational worldwide, including 260 manufactured by AgustaWestland.

Several military, paramilitary and civil passenger and utility variants of the helicopter are operational: fire fighting, emergency services, police, search and rescue, coast guard, air ambulance, utility helicopter and airborne surveillance.

In August 2007, the Government of Bahrain requested the sale of six Bell 412 helicopters for search and rescue. In November 2007, the Chilean Air Force placed an order for 12 helicopters for search and rescue, and transport.

The helicopter structure incorporates many safety features including a rupture-resistant fuel system; jettisonable crew doors; sturdy construction and bulkheads for roll-over protection; wire strike protection on the nose; dual redundant electrical, hydraulic and fuel systems; dual digital flight control and a rugged high-reliability twin pack engine.

The helicopter can carry up to 15 people. The maximum cruise speed is 226km/h and the range is 659km. The maximum altitude is 5,400m.

BELL 412 COCKPIT

The cockpit has two crashworthy energy-absorbing pilot seats and collective mounted twist grip throttles, which allow the pilot to manage or adjust the power without releasing the primary flight controls. The helicopter is certified for single pilot instrument flight rules operation.

The avionics suite includes a three-axis autopilot to reduce crew workload and fatigue and allow the crew to concentrate on successful completion of the mission. The flight deck is fitted with a four-screen electronic flight information system.

Other avionics equipment includes: dual VHF radios, dual VOR/ILS/MB omni-directional radio range / instrument landing system / magnetic bearing, automatic direction finder, distance measuring equipment, radar altimeter, weather radar and Emergency Locator Transponder (ELT) system.

CABIN

The cabin provides comfortable seating for up to 13 people. The cabin is fitted with four push-out windows for emergency egress. A 28ft³ baggage compartment in the tailboom can carry loads up to 180kg.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

The helicopter can be fitted with an optional four-axis autopilot which provides 'hands off' search and rescue procedures and also 'hands off' automatic approach.

The 220ft³ capacity cabin configured for the emergency medical services role can carry up to six patients or survivors plus two medical attendants. An alternative configuration accommodates two critical stretcher patients and four medical attendants.

Sliding doors, 2.34m wide, on both sides of the fuselage allow easy, safe and fast access for multiple patient loading or for loading life support units or neonatal intensive care units.

TURBOSHAFT ENGINE

The helicopter is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada turbo twin pack power plant model PT6T-3B-1 with two turboshaft engines producing a total 1,044kW take-off power and 843kW continuous power.

For one engine inoperable flight a single engine can produce a maximum power of up to 723kW for 30 minutes. The operational history of the PT6 twin pac engine records that the engine has the lowest in-flight shutdown rate of any turboshaft engine.

The fuel tanks with total capacity of 1,249l comprise seven rupture-resistant tanks with breakaway automatic shut off valves.

For long-range operations the helicopter can be fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks which provide a total fuel capacity of 1,870l and give an extended range of about 980km.

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