Bell 206L 3 Turbine Helicopters for Sale

Bell 206L-3 Helicopter Overview

By Gerrard Cowan - Editor, Aircraft Reviews

The Bell 206L-3 LongRanger III is one of several upgrades to the original LongRanger model – which was itself a stretched version of the popular Bell 206 JetRanger. Offering an attractive blend of power and capacity, the Bell 206L-3 remains active on the pre-owned market today.

The LongRanger III was produced for about a decade from 1982, with 607 units being manufactured in this time (JETNET data), before the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV entered production.

What features does the Bell 206L-3 offer?

Like its predecessors, the Bell 206L-3 was a stretched version of the 206B model, and is capable of holding five passengers and a pilot (versus four passengers in the JetRanger model).

The Bell 206L-3 LongRanger III was a substantially more powerful version of the LongRanger II, with the Allison 250 engine uprated by 215shp to 650shp. The aircraft features Bell’s Nodamatic rotorhead, substantially reducing noise and vibration.

What came before and after the Bell 206L-3?

The Bell 206L-3 is a member of a long-running, successful helicopter family, beginning with the development of the original 206 model in the 1960s.

The Bell 206B-3 was a particularly successful example; capable of carrying four passengers, and powered by a single Allison 250-C20B turboshaft, it has a range of about 370nm. 

The Bell 206L-4 followed the 206L-3, being manufactured from the early 1990s until production ended in 2017, bringing the LongRanger line to an end.

Today, the range is represented by the Bell 407, which is derived from the 206L and has been produced since the mid-1990s. The current production model – the Bell 407GXi – has a Rolls-Royce 250-C47E/4 turboshaft engine with dual digital, full authority digital engine control (FADEC), and has a range of 337nm at long-range cruise. A Garmin G1000H NXi integrated flight deck is also featured.

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