Bell Helicopter opened its Mirabel manufacturing facility in 1986. On display in front of the main office entrance is this Bell 430 with the fictitious registration C-BH86. Originally Bell 222UT N3177U (cn 47503), it was converted to a Bell 230 development aircraft in 1991. A further conversion in 1994 saw the machine stretched into Bell 430 C-GEXP (assigned new cn 43902) with a four blade main rotor. The other 430 prototype on skids was allocated to the Bell training center in Hurst, Texas.
This photo is copyright © Kenneth I. Swartz, and may not be used or published in any way without permission.
It was added on 29 May 2024, and has since been viewed 145 times.
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