Bell 407オーナーの声：Stephan Kruger

I'm Stefan Krueger, helicopter pilot, chief pilot for Albatros Aviation in Kenya. We started our company in 2017, when this 407 arrived, and since then we've done 2,200 hours. We are pilots because we like to fly -- we don't want to be spending time on the ground. So I know with my machine I'm gonna do 150 hours, and then for the next couple of days she's in maintenance, and when she comes out I'm good for 150 hours again -- so she's reliable, that's one of my main things. If I need a spare part, I'll have it within two or three days -- it's not a long, stretched-out process where my machine sits on the ground; they'll source parts, and I get very good aftermarket support from Bell. I like the speed of the 407 -- it's a really, really fast helicopter, very comfortable with the four-bladed system, you've got minimal vibration, and it's an excellent medevac helicopter. We do get quite a bit of requests for medevacs -- you want a machine that's very fast, because every minute counts, and the 407 can make quite a big difference from other machines. It's a fast helicopter, and to convert it into a medevac configuration takes me no more than five minutes -- you can have two passengers on top of each other, and on the left-hand side we remove the seats, and your stretcher slides in there; then, as you can see, she's got a big door on the side which can completely open up to load the stretcher in with the patient, so it's very comfortable for the medic also to sit in the helicopter with his back in front of him or under the stretcher, and the patient right next to him, and very comfortable -- same height, easy to monitor -- and they prefer the 407 more than the other machines. We do a lot of tourism -- Kenya is a beautiful country, with the high-visibility windows like what she's got, each passenger gets a window seat, and all the people in the helicopter get a great bird's-eye view of the landscape and what there is to see. We operate in very remote areas in Kenya, and we do help people, and that is what makes helicopter flying so satisfying. I think it was in 2019 -- a pregnant lady was hit, by accident, in the leg during a raid in a village, and there was flooding in the particular area of Marsabit -- I was with some government officials, dropped them off, and flew the lady to a hospital, and it was a very successful story, and everyone was very happy. This particular 407 is very well known in Kenya -- on the older machines compared to the G1000, of course it's a huge upgrade; it takes away pilot workload, makes it more enjoyable, you've got more information if you know how to use it, and it assists you in many ways, in bad weather conditions, in operations in the mountains, with the equipment you've got on board -- it makes your workload much less in Kenya. We currently have five 407s here, and hopefully more will come -- we're definitely also looking at expanding. It's just a pleasure to fly her, and she's a nice machine.