The 427 rotor was ported over virtually unchanged from the 407. It was
originally designed for the Bell Model 400 back in the '70s, a design that
was never fielded but was very similar to the unlamented Soloy Twin Ranger,
was produced in quantity for the OH-58D, and was maxed out in terms of disc
loading and gross weight capacity before the 427 came along. The 427 will
never have competitive range and payload with the current rotor, something
that was obvious when it was still on paper 7 years ago. Bell's late, great
Ed Covington, Chief Engineer for rotor design, calculated in the spring of
'97 that the 430 hub could be ported to the 427 with little change. It
should have been done then.


"Shaber CJ" wrote in message
...
Is anyone out there familar with the design of the Bell 427 main
rotor? Since I first saw it I've been quite a fan of the design with
it's composite yoke for coning and flapping relief and it's rather
novel and very simple damping elements. Yet today I read that Bell
plans to re-rotor the 427 within the next year. Does anyone know why?


In the early days of flight the engineers also flew the aircraft which had
the
effect of eliminating bad engineerings very quickly. Today it seems as if
Bell
has all the test flying done by line pilots. 407, case in point, 427,
case in
point.