Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

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.


We took off from Van Nuys Airport at about 4,800 pounds, 450 below the internal mtow and with about 670 pounds of fuel and five people on board. BJ Raysor, senior vice president of operations at SevenBar Aviation, was flying up front with Maitlen and wanted to see the performance of the 407GX in the mountains, so we flew about 50 nm and 45 minutes to the north side of Mount San Antonio, avoiding the wilderness areas but also seeing dramatic evidence of the severe drought afflicting California. Reservoirs were distinctly low and some of the mountains still were blackened from earlier fires, while one area was blocked by a temporary flight restriction to facilitate firefighting operations.


Maitlen landed the 407GX at about 9,550 feet. The local temperature was 14 deg C, about ISA +20. After takeoff, he said that he pulled the power into the yellow arc on takeoff but could have stayed in the green if it were necessary. We lifted off the ridge then moved downhill and picked up speed for the flight back to Van Nuys.


The FMS-12 AFM supplement for the 407GX allows carriage of about 300 pounds more external payload in ISA +20 deg C conditions at 6,000 feet, according to Bell.


G1000H Provides Situational Awareness


The 407GX’s Garmin G1000H synthetic vision system helps sharpen the pilot’s situational awareness when flying in mountainous terrain, and some added features in the avionics make calculating hover performance much easier. The G1000H has built-in weight-and balance calculations, too. On the hover performance page, the pilot can determine power required for OGE or IGE hover, either in the existing conditions (OAT, pressure altitude, wind) and current weight or by plugging in expected conditions and expected weight at the destination for pre-flight planning purposes. The benefit is that a pilot can quickly figure out whether the helicopter will be able to take off from a destination where hot-high conditions might make the operation risky.

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