8 bell 47 for US$20,000 each

E

edgarp

Guest
Hi all,
There are 8 Bell 47´s for sale in Guatemala. 2 with Lycoming and 6 with Franklin Engines. None of them have either data plates or log books. All are complete and look good (Blades, instruments, body, etc.). Is it a good idea to buy one for a complete ground restoration at this price? Please let me have your feedback, never had a heli but I´m interested in either an enstrom or a bell 47.
Currently 10 hours on my flying lessons. 46 years old!! I have pictures if interested
regards
Ed
 
They are worthless for use in the USA without dataplates AND logbooks. Forget it.

Scott Heger, Laguna Niguel,Ca N86SH
 
You might possibly be able to register them in the Experimental Exhibition category. But I'm not sure this would be worth you time or effort since this would severely limit your use of the helicopter.

The person to ask on this is Tom Milton [email protected]
 
I agree with Scott. The aircraft are worthless without the proper identification and paperwork. I wouldn't even pay $10K for the lot. It's a sad fact that any aircraft that is operated and sold from any other part of the Americas that's not from Canada or the U.S. is suspect on the actual condition. That's because counterfeiting, cheating, misrepresentation, along with bribes is the norm and not the exception to the rule.
 
Is there anyway to make them Experimental at all ??

What would the engine be worth for experimental use ?

Do some of the parts interchange with the Safari Heli ?

Couldn't you just do what others have done for registration.......LIE !!! ( Yeah, I built it ! )
 
Without data plates & logbooks they are scrap metal at best.

They are also almost certainly run way past the time limits on the major components, which is why they don't have any records or data plates in the first place.

An ex employer of mine operated a Bell 47 in Nicaragua for years, all it took was a cash payment to the local aviation authorities to have them ignore things like maintenance & time limits - this machine was already past due overhaul & a bunch of component replacement when it was put on the ship headed down there. He wanted me to fly down there & work on it, when I refused I got fired...
 
Do some of the parts interchange with the Safari Heli ?

Couldn't you just do what others have done for registration.......LIE !!! ( Yeah, I built it ! )
the only part that may be useadble on a Safari is the Bubble, as I have pointed out many times, the Safari is nothing more then an updated version of the Classic Helicom Commuter of the 60's and 80's.

if you have not seen it yet I am restoring a early and very rare single seater Helicom Commuter H-1B.

Mine does have a Bell 47 cooling fan on it.
 
Because many fly only gyros and / or experimentals, some of the folks on this forum might not be aware that a Standard Airworthiness rotorcraft such as the Bell 47 has strict life limits on many, many parts that cannot be exceeded legally. It's not a suggested TBO as you might find in other contexts but a firm, absolute requirement. It is customary to have a record of the time in service of each of these parts, not just the airframe as a whole, in the logs (the serial number of the part, the date put into service, the time remaining etc., are tracked for each part, with each one having its own data card in the records). For parts large or small, (scissor, gimbal ring, blade grip, bearing, blade, transmission, etc.) you must have a record to show how much life it has remaining. Maximum lifetime depends upon which part it is (1200 hrs, 2500 hrs, etc.). If there is no record, you must overhaul it to start a new clock, or replace it, and some very expensive parts cannot be overhauled (e.g., -47 metal main rotor blades are scrap when the time expires, and the replacement price will stun you with all the zeros). The Franklin engined models are over fifty years old now, and with no records it's scary to think how many critical parts could be way, way over life limit, no matter how nice they look in photos.

You also need to know something about where the aircraft was made if you want to register it in the states. Bell 47s were built under license in Italy and Japan, for example, as well as by Bell the U.S. If you re-import a Bell that once had a U.S. Airworthiness Certificate, it may be possible without too much trouble to get it properly registered with an N-number again. But if it was built overseas by a licensee and was never U.S. registered, you have more hoops to jump through to show it conforms to a U.S. type certificate. That becomes pretty difficult without data plates and such.

I've flown gliders that were certified in Germany and not in the U.S., but registered here as Experimental - Exhibition and Racing. You still need records to import something and fly it in that category here. It's a useful category for former military aircraft that were never civil registered, or for foreign certified aircraft, or for other aircraft that have been modified for racing, etc., but not an end run around the need for original paperwork. You'll also never it get it certified as Experimental Amateur Built, because the FAA is not stupid enough to believe you built 51% of it from scratch.

If you want to rebuild one, you have to have a ship with a data plate to start, or the FAA will consider you an unapproved manufacturer and you'll never get an airworthiness certificate. Bell and the FAA are even getting tougher about doing rebuilds - Bell now makes and publishes records of "destroyed" serial numbers, so if you get a data plate from wreck somewhere without an airframe and try to build a helicopter around it, you won't get that into the air, either.

My guess is that you would never get one of these registered here. As to parts value, you won't be able to use much more than the seat cushions legally without overhaul. I suspect that it wouldn't be worth the cost to truck them up from Guatemala, much less the purchase price.
 
Can you use helicopter parts while building a gyro?
Say for example, you build a gyrocopter around a used r22 cabin. Would you be able to get the Airworthyness and get it registered as experimental?
Brad
 
Bell 47's for sale Gutemula Govt.

Bell 47's for sale Gutemula Govt.

Do you have any contact info for the sale of the Bell 47's from Gutemula Govt.
 
Since this thread is almost 3 years old, they have probably already been scraped out.
 
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