Fort Worth, TX - June 28, 2012 - Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT), announced today an agreement for the supply of four Bell 407GX helicopters to CareFlite®, a nonprofit 501(c) 3 corporation providing fully integrated medical transport across North Texas. The aircraft will transport ill or injured patients to critical care facilities, serving more than 100 counties within a 150-mile radius of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The new Bell 407GXs are slated for delivery in 2013.
"We chose to add four Bell 407GXs to our current fleet because of the proven reliability of the Bell 407 combined with its state of the art avionics and factory installed autopilot," said James Swartz, President and CEO of CareFlite.
CareFlite is renowned for its helicopter service. Established in 1979 with one helicopter shared between two hospitals, CareFlite now operates five helicopter bases at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Denton Regional Hospital, the Frisco Fire Department and the Granbury Municipal Airport. More than 75,000 patients have been airlifted by CareFlite over the last 34 years.
"We are honored CareFlite has chosen the 407GX for its life-saving operations. This marks another major acquisition for this aircraft in the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services segment in the United States and in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is home to Bell Helicopter's corporate offices," said Danny Maldonado, Bell Helicopter's executive vice president of Commercial Sales and Marketing. "Air medical service providers have an incredibly challenging job. They must get to every patient as quickly as possible and every second counts. The Bell 407GX is an ideal aircraft for air medical missions that inherently demand a reliable platform with exceptional speed and safety performance," said Maldonado.
The 407GX delivers power and speed with a smooth, quiet ride and a spacious, multi-mission ready cabin that accommodates six passengers. Built on the proven performance and reliability of the Bell 407 platform, the 407GX features the Garmin G1000H™ flight deck, providing critical flight information at a glance for greater situational awareness and increased safety. The flight deck includes high resolution LCD screens, hosting primary flight display and multi-function display information, as well as an Integrated Avionics System with Helicopter Terrain Avoidance Warning System, Helicopter Synthetic Vision Technology™, Traffic Information Systems and more.
About Bell Helicopter
Bell Helicopter, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., is an industry-leading producer of commercial and military, manned and unmanned vertical-lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tiltrotor aircraft. Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality, Bell's global workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.
About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, and Textron Systems. More information is available at www.textron.com .
Certain statements in this press release may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to changes in aircraft delivery schedules or cancellations or deferrals of orders and difficult conditions in the financial markets which may adversely impact our customers' ability to fund or finance purchases of our products.
Contact
SUSAN GORDON
817-280-3100
sgordon@bh.com
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