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Bell 430
Bell 430
	Nakanihon Air Service's Bell 430 with landing skids
General information
Type	Executive/utility helicopter
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Bell Helicopter Textron
Number built	136
History
Manufactured	1996–2008
Introduction date	1995
First flight	October 25, 1994
Developed from	Bell 222/230

The Bell 430 is an American/Canadian twin-engine light-medium helicopter built by Bell Helicopter. It is a stretched and more powerful development of the Bell 230, which, in turn, was based on the earlier Bell 222.

Development

While developing the reengined Model 222 as the 230, Bell began preliminary design work on a stretched derivative with a four-bladed main rotor in 1991. The Bell 430 was formally launched in February 1992, with two prototypes modified from Bell 230s. The first of these flew in its new configuration on October 25, 1994, and the second prototype, featuring the full 430 avionics suite, first flew on December 19, 1994.^[1]

Production of the Bell 230 ended in August 1995, and 430 production began. The first 430 production aircraft was completed later that year. Canadian certification was awarded on February 23, 1996. Deliveries began in mid-1996.^[1]

On January 24, 2008, Bell announced plans to terminate production of its Model 430 after order commitments were fulfilled in 2008.^[2] Production ended after 136 helicopters were completed,^[3] with the last being delivered in May 2008.^[4]

Design

The Bell 430 features several significant improvements over the 230, the most significant of these being the new four-blade, bearingless, hingeless, composite main rotor. Although both the 230 and 430 are powered by Rolls-Royce (Allison) 250 turboshaft engines, the 430's engines are 10% more powerful. Other changes include the 1 ft 6 in (46 cm) stretched fuselage, providing for two extra seats, an optional EFIS flight deck, and a choice of either skids or retractable wheeled undercarriage.^[1]

The typical configuration seats ten, including a pilot and co-pilot with eight passengers in the main cabin behind them in three rows of seats. Six- and eight-place executive layouts are offered. In an EMS role it can carry one or two stretcher patients with four or three medical attendants, respectively. Maximum external load capacity is 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg).^[1]

Operational history

The Bell 430 entered service in 1996, with thirteen delivered that year.^[5] In 1998, some 50 Bell 430s were in service with 9,000 flight hours totaled.^[6]

On September 3, 1996, Americans Ron Bower and John Williams broke the round-the-world helicopter record with the second Bell 430, flying westwards from the UK with a time of 17 days, 6 hours and 14 minutes.^[1]^[4]

Operators

Military

Bulgaria

Bulgarian Air Force^[7]

Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic Air Force^[8]

Ecuador

Ecuadorian Navy^[9]^[10]

Civilian

Indonesia

Pelita Air^[11]

United States

AirMed^[12]
New York State Police.^[13]
Lee County EMS^[14]
GrandView Aviation^[15]
Louisiana State Police^[16]
Uber Elevate^[17]

Accidents

On September 2, 2009, an Andhra Govt. Bell 430 carrying Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and his party from Andhra Pradesh in southern India went missing over a local stretch of forest. The charred wreckage was found the next morning, crashed on a hilltop in the Nallamala Hills^[18] leaving no survivors, five persons deceased.

Specifications

Bell 230 and Bell 430 comparison
Model	230	430
Announced	1990	1991
First Flight	August 12, 1991	October 25, 1994
Certified	March 1992	February 23, 1996
Delivered	November 1992	1996
Seats	2 (pilot & copilot) + 5–6 passengers	2 + 6–8
Height	11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)	12 ft 3 in (3.73 m)
Fuselage length	42 ft 3 in (12.88 m)	44 ft 1 in (13.44 m)
Rotor diameter	42 ft (13 m)
Length overall	50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
Engine (2×)	Allison 250C30G2	Rolls-Royce 250-C40B
Power (2×)	700 hp (520 kW)	783 hp (584 kW)
Max. speed	140 knots (160 mph; 260 km/h)	140 knots (160 mph; 260 km/h)
Climb rate	1,600 ft/min (8.13 m/s)	1,350 ft/min (6.86 m/s)
Service ceiling	15,500 ft (4,700 m)	14,600 ft (4,500 m)
Hover ceiling	12,400 ft (3,800 m)	11,350 ft (3,460 m)
Fuel capacity	188+ US gal (710+ L)	188+ US gal (710+ L)
Range	378 nmi (435 mi; 700 km)	324 nmi (373 mi; 600 km)
Empty Weight	5,097 pounds (2,312 kg)	5,305 pounds (2,406 kg)
Maximum Takeoff Weight	8,400 pounds (3,800 kg)	9,300 pounds (4,200 kg)
Serial Numbers	23001–23038	49001–49123+

Sources: Airliners.net,^[19]^[20] helicopterdirect.com,^[21] AircraftOne.com^[22]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Frawley, Gerard: The International Directory of Civil Aircraft, 2003-2004, p. 46. Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd., 2003. ISBN 1-875671-58-7.
^ "Bell Streamlines Product Line to Better Align with Customer Demands" Archived December 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Bell Helicopter, January 24, 2008.
^ "Bell 430". Jane's Helicopter Markets and Systems. Jane's Information Group, 2009. (subscription article)^{[permanent dead link‍]} dated October 20, 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Bell 430". Jane's All the World's Aircraft. Jane's Information Group, 2009. (subscription article)^{[permanent dead link‍]} dated April 21, 2009.
^ Jackson 2004, p. 41.
^ "Bell Model 430" Archived February 1, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Flug Revue, 30. December 1999.
^ "Airscene: Military Affairs: Bulgarian VIP Bell 430". Air International. Vol. 59, no. 6. December 2000. p. 324. ISSN 0306-5634.
^ "Dominican Republic Air Force". Retrieved 3 January 2013.
^ "armada ecuatoriana". Retrieved 3 January 2013.
^ "Ecuadorian Navy". Retrieved 3 January 2013.
^ "Our Fleet". pelita-air.com. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
^ "AirMed Uath". University Health Care AirMed.org. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
^ "Aviation: Current Equipment". New York State Police. Archived from the original on 2012-07-24.
^ "NBC2 gets first look at new MEDSTAR chopper". © Copyright 2000 - 2013, WorldNow and WBBH. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
^ "BHS Fleet". BHS.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
^ "Louisiana State Police Bring Air Support Back to Northern la. — Police Helicopter Pilot". Archived from the original on 2017-04-17. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
^ Samantha Murphy Kelly (4 October 2019). "Uber's new helicopter service is an expensive, time-consuming adventure". CNN. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
^ "Andhra CM Chopper Found". India Summary. September 3, 2009. Archived from the original on September 5, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
^ Bell 222 & 230 page. Airliners.net
^ Bell 430 page. Airliners.net
^ Bell helicopter technical data. helicopterdirect.com
^ Helicopter production list Archived 2016-06-20 at the Wayback Machine. AircraftOne.com