Power Up

The Eagle Copters 407HP, a more powerful re-engine of Bell’s popular 407 light single, has landed

Australia’s first Eagle Copters 407HP, a re-engined Bell 407 with a Honeywell turboshaft engine installed to improve the type’s high altitude and hot ambient temperature performance while reducing operating costs, made its debut at Rotortech 2016 on the Sunshine Coast (see Rotor Torque) in late May.

Carried out under a supplemental type certificate (STC) by Alberta, Canada-based Eagle Copters, the Eagle 407HP re-engine program sees the 407’s factory-fitted Rolls-Royce 250‑C47B turboshaft replaced with a 1,021shp (760kW) dual-channel FADEC Honeywell HTS900D-2. After the re-engine process is complete, which takes around four to six weeks, the helicopter gains a 22 per cent increase in shaft horsepower capable of lifting an additional 316kg of payload while burning through 17 per cent less fuel than a conventional Bell 407.