Texas Company Builds on Forty-Years of Saving Lives

Bell Textron Inc. has announced that CareFlite—the Texas-based nonprofit corporation sponsored by numerous, Lone Star State healthcare concerns—has signed an agreement to purchase a Bell 407GXi helicopter outfitted with an IFR configuration kit.

CareFlite’s fleet of two Bell 429s and five Bell 407s provides emergency transport and long-haul patient transfers throughout Texas and Oklahoma.

In making the purchase, CareFlite becomes the first Helicopter Air Ambulance (HAA) outfit in North and Central Texas to operate Bell’s 407GXi IFR kit.

The Bell 407GXi is a four-blade, single-engine, multi-role, utility helicopter developed and built by Bell (formerly Bell Helicopter), a subsidiary of Textron. The aircraft is an upgraded version of the Bell 407GXP and the first helicopter launched by the company after its rebranding as Bell.

The aircraft’s forward fuselage comprises an aluminum honeycomb/carbon graphite structure, while its spacious, 2.4m³ cabin is a semi-monocoque construct made of carbon fibre.

The 407GXi‘s main-rotor is fitted to a flex-beam hub and sports a quartet of fiberglass blades. Anti-torque is provided by a semi-rigid tail rotor fitted with two blades. Landing gear is of a tubular skid type with replaceable skid shoes.

The helicopter has an empty weight of 1,224-kilos, a maximum useful load of 1,043-kilos, and can carry up to 2,772-kilos of external load.

Up front, a Garmin G1000H™ NXi Flight Deck affords Bell 407GXi operators all-weather, IFR capability.

Established in 1979, CareFlite is the oldest joint-use, air-medical transportation service in the United States. Today, CareFlite operates seven helicopter bases in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

The company has nine, FAA-approved instrument approaches to hospitals throughout North Texas. The approaches permit CareFlite to transport critical patients during poor weather conditions. CareFlite is the first non-governmental entity to undertake such a program in Texas.

Having recently replaced the entirety of its rotary-wing aircraft with new Bell 429’s and Bell 407GXs, CareFlite’s helicopter fleet is now among the youngest in the United States.

FMI: www.careflite.org