Rotorcraft
Bell 407GX Tours Socal High Spots
A supplement to the Bell 407GX flight manual enables carriage of heavier external loads while flying in hot-and-high conditions.
During a demo tour of Southern California, Bell’s 407GX made a stop on this 9,550-foot mountain ridge near Mount San Antonio.
During a demo tour of Southern California, Bell’s 407GX made a stop on this 9,550-foot mountain ridge near Mount San Antonio.

Greg Maitlen pivoted the Bell 407GX carefully as we approached a ridge slightly lower than nearby 10,064-foot Mount San Antonio (also known as Mount Baldy), the highest peak in southern California’s tinder-dry San Gabriel mountain range. Maitlen, Bell Helicopter’s regional sales manager for the mountain U.S., was piloting a demo of the 407GX’s new flight manual supplement allowing carriage of a heavier payload in hot-and-high conditions. The new AFM supplement was certified in July and involves no changes to the 407GX other than placing the new FMS-12 supplement in the helicopter.