Bell Textron (Agusta, Subaru licence builds) · Helicopter
Bell 212 and 412
Is the Bell 212 and 412 safe? It is not ranked yet: with 1 fatal accident counted in about 1.1 million US flights since 2008, its record is too short to place it among the others: its score could be anywhere from 56 to 95.
Likely range 56 to 95
How the score is built
- Fatal accidents
- 1 in 1.1 million flights
0.93 fatal accidents per million flights. Counted: all civil flights in the United States since 2008 (private, charter, air ambulance, utility, training and other), accidents and unexplained losses; not counted: accidents outside the United States or before 2008, military, test and illegal flights, sabotage, hijackings, shoot-downs and deliberate crew acts.
- Full-loss equivalents
- 0.17
Each counted accident adds the share of people on board who died (1 = no survivors). This is what the score is based on.
- Flights flown
- 1.1 million
Estimated flights of all kinds in the United States since 2008. Flights of all kinds in the United States (private, training, charter and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026, each counted from take-off to final landing: the hours of all US twin-engine turbine helicopters in each year (active aircraft and hours from the FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey), split between types by US-registered aircraft (FAA register, 137 of this type in 2024) times how much each type flies against its class (0.93, mostly from airframe hours in NTSB accident records, partly from hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers in 2019-2022, then matched to the FAA's own hours for this model in 2008-2021), at 0.62 hours per flight from ADS-B tracks: about 333 flights per registered aircraft per year in 2024. Flights and accidents outside the United States, or before 2008, are not used. Against the FAA's hours per helicopter model, this method is off by about 22% on a typical type. Uncertainty roughly ±20%.
- Technology generation
- Twin-engine turbine helicopter
Small fleets are pulled toward the record of the other types of their generation: 1.3 full-loss equivalents per million flights over 14.8 million flights. Weight of this family's own record: 64%.
- Likely range
- 56 to 95
The score is 90% likely to lie in this range, given how few accidents a type has and the error in the estimate of its flights.
- Last fatal accident
- 21 July 2009
Usda Forest Service, Willow Creek, CA, United States of America: 1 of 6 people on board died.
- Aircraft destroyed
- 2
Aircraft the NTSB coded as destroyed in an accident in the United States since 2008, fatal or not, from all causes. The NTSB codes many wrecks as only substantially damaged, so the real number is higher (context only, not in the score).
Compared with everyday risks
One flight on the Bell 212 and 412 carries about the same risk of death as the activities near it below.
- An hour's walk1 in 14 million
- Driving 100 miles (160 km)1 in 5.9 million
- One flight on the Bell 212 and 412This aircraft1 in 1.8 million
- An ordinary day: accidents and violence1 in 1 million
- A day of skiing1 in 830,000
- A scuba dive1 in 500,000
- Cycling 100 miles (160 km)1 in 430,000
- Running a marathon1 in 290,000
- A skydive1 in 250,000
- A general anaesthetic1 in 100,000
- Riding a motorbike 100 miles (160 km)1 in 83,000
Accident history
1 fatal accident in the United States since 2008 counts toward the score, with 1 people on board killed.
| Date | Flight | Killed | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usda Forest ServiceBell 212 · Willow Creek, CA, United States of America | 1 killed / 6 on board | During rappel training near Willow Creek, California, a helitack firefighter climbed out onto the skid of the hovering Heli-1 Bell 212, flown for the Forest Service, and fell down the rope to his death. The NTSB found his harness had not been latched to the rappel gear.Type: OtherNTSB docket |
The Bell 212 and 412 are not ranked yet. Up to 28 October 2026, the family has one counted fatal accident in the United States since 2008, with one death, in about 1.1 million US flights. That is too little to tell how it compares with other helicopters, so we show its score with a wide likely range and list it after the ranked types.
What are the Bell 212 and 412?
The 212 is the civil twin-engine Huey. It first flew in 1968, with a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T Twin-Pac (two turbines driving one gearbox) so that it can keep flying if one fails, and a two-blade main rotor. The 412, delivered from 1981, added a four-blade rotor; it is still built as the 412EPX. Bell delivered about 919 212s and over 1,300 412s, and Agusta and Subaru built more under licence. Bell markets the 412 for public safety and energy work, with seats for up to 14 passengers.
In the US these are working helicopters. They carry firefighting crews and water buckets for the Forest Service and state agencies, crews to oil platforms, and police and rescue teams. The FAA register held 133 in 2026, down from 220 in 2008. The military UH-1N and its foreign cousins are outside our data.
Why it is not ranked yet
We count fatal accidents in the United States since 2008, from the NTSB database, against US flights estimated from the FAA aircraft register and the FAA General Aviation survey, split between types by how much each type flies, mostly from airframe hours in NTSB accident records and partly from hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers (OpenSky, 2019 to 2022), then matched to the FAA's own hours for the model (FAA Table MM.1, 2008 to 2021). A type with under 3 million flights and at most one counted fatal accident gets no rank. The 212 and 412 have about 1.1 million flights and one accident, so the record of the other twin-engine turbine helicopters carries more than a third of the weight in their score, and confidence is low.
One accident in about 1.1 million flights looks good, and it may well be. But other twins with short records, the Bell 429 (about 0.9 million flights), the AW109 (about 1.2 million) and the S-76 (about 2.3 million), have four counted accidents each. One or two more accidents would move this score a long way. Compare the twins in the helicopter ranking and read our method.
The one counted accident
On 21 July 2009, during rappel training near Willow Creek, California, a helitack firefighter climbed out onto the skid of a hovering Heli-1 Bell 212 flown for the Forest Service and fell down the rope. The NTSB found that his harness had not been latched to the rappel gear. He died; the other five on board survived. It counts because a person on a rope from the helicopter died on the flight, but it says little about the machine.
The NTSB recorded two of the family's helicopters as destroyed in the US since 2008, a lower bound, since that is only the damage code of each record. Fatal 212 and 412 accidents outside the United States, and those before 2008, do not count.
What crews and passengers can check
- Fire and rescue crews: confirm every harness and carabiner by a second person before anyone leaves the cabin, the step missed at Willow Creek.
- Offshore workers: ask whether the flight has two pilots, and do the underwater escape training your employer offers.
- Charter customers: ask for the operator's Part 135 certificate and look up the N-number in the FAA registry and the NTSB CAROL database.
How to tell if you are on one
Flight trackers show B212 for the 212 and B412 for the 412. Both have the long, boxy Huey cabin, most on skids; count the main rotor blades, two on the 212 and four on the 412. The Sikorsky S-76 is a sleeker twin with retractable wheels.
Questions people ask
Is the Bell 412 a safe helicopter?
Our US data are too thin to say how it compares. Since 2008 it and the Bell 212 have one counted fatal accident in the United States, a firefighter who fell during rappel training, in about 1.1 million flights. That is a good sign, but the likely range of the score is very wide, so we do not rank the family yet.
Why are the Bell 212 and 412 not ranked?
We rank a helicopter once it has at least 3 million US flights or at least two counted fatal accidents. The 212 and 412 have neither. Their score still shows, with a wide likely range, and they are listed after the ranked types.
What is the difference between the Bell 212 and the Bell 412?
The 412 is the 212 with a four-blade main rotor instead of two blades. Both use the same Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T Twin-Pac, two turbines driving one gearbox, and both grew out of the military Huey. We score them as one family.
Do military Twin Hueys count in the score?
No. The UH-1N and other military versions fly outside the NTSB database, so their accidents are not in our data, and neither are their flights. Only civil flights in the United States since 2008 count.
Sources
- 1.NTSB docket: Bell 212, Willow Creek, California, 21 July 2009 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 2.Bell: Bell 412 (opens in a new tab) · Bell Textron
- 3.FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey (opens in a new tab) · Federal Aviation Administration
- 4.FAA Registry: aircraft inquiry (opens in a new tab) · Federal Aviation Administration
- 5.SafetyScorer exposure model: FAA aircraft register, FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey, OpenSky ADS-B, NTSB airframe hours (opens in a new tab)Flights of all kinds in the United States (private, training, charter and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026, each counted from take-off to final landing: the hours of all US twin-engine turbine helicopters in each year (active aircraft and hours from the FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey), split between types by US-registered aircraft (FAA register, 137 of this type in 2024) times how much each type flies against its class (0.93, mostly from airframe hours in NTSB accident records, partly from hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers in 2019-2022, then matched to the FAA's own hours for this model in 2008-2021), at 0.62 hours per flight from ADS-B tracks: about 333 flights per registered aircraft per year in 2024. Flights and accidents outside the United States, or before 2008, are not used. Against the FAA's hours per helicopter model, this method is off by about 22% on a typical type. Uncertainty roughly ±20%.