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.