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Find aircraft background, systems descriptions and manuals for the aircraft you are researching. Each note keeps its source and version context close by.

Simulator manuals describe the developer’s implementation. Aircraft background is research-based; pilot accounts describe an individual’s experience. Coverage here is limited to the selected notes and linked resources, not the full contents of every manual.
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Bell 407 ↗Simulator documentation

407 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024

The update record includes passengers and the flight bag

The December 2025 release notes identify a correction to passenger navigation and career behaviour, together with a helicopter outline added to the EFB. These details concern the bundled MSFS 2024 Bell 407 and its integration with the simulator’s activities.

MSFS 2024 Sim Update 4 · 1.6.32.0, 8 December 2025

SourceMSFS 2024 Sim Update 4 release notes ↗Microsoft Flight Simulator
Bell 407 ↗Simulator documentation

Bell 407 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020

Part of MSFS 2020’s introduction of helicopters

Microsoft named the Cabri G2 and Bell 407 in its 40th Anniversary Edition announcement, alongside the new helicopter fluid-dynamics simulation. These bundled aircraft share that platform introduction, while retaining different cockpits and aircraft configurations.

Microsoft announcement · June 2022; published fleet confirms their subsequent inclusion

Bell 407 ↗Research-based aircraft background

Bell 407

The Bell 407 retained a family resemblance to the 206L while adopting a four-bladed main rotor and associated structural changes. It is a single-engine helicopter used for passenger, emergency-service and utility missions.

The rotor is an immediate visual clue when comparing a 407 with the two-bladed JetRanger and LongRanger. Cockpit equipment has also evolved through the programme. Simulator implementations can therefore share the 407 name while representing different avionics and assistance systems.

Aircraft / family

SourceBell 407 ↗Wikipedia contributors
Bell 412 ↗Simulator documentation

Bell 412 · X-Trident · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12

Mission equipment gives the utility helicopter work to do

X-Trident’s listing describes a winch and rescue operations, a water-drop system, a NIGHTSUN spotlight and a FLIR camera. It also includes a landing dolly, custom failures and configurable attached objects.

Gathered X-Plane.org developer listing · retrieved September 2026

SourceBell 412 ↗X-Trident
Bell 412 ↗Simulator documentation

Bell 412 · X-Trident · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12

The X-Plane versions have different update histories

The listing supports X-Plane 11 and 12, while identifying the 5.x updates as X-Plane 12-specific. Version 5.0 added rain and wiper effects and individual loading sliders; 5.1 added Apple Silicon support. The displayed 5.2 date conflicts between the summary and history, so it is not used as a reliable chronology.

Gathered listing · version history 4.0–5.2

SourceBell 412 ↗X-Trident
Bell 412 ↗Research-based aircraft background

Bell 412

The 412 developed from Bell's 212, replacing the earlier main-rotor arrangement with a composite four-blade system. The airframe found both civilian and military customers, and later versions introduced further cockpit and equipment changes. It belongs to the wider Huey family but has its own rotor, performance and systems context.

SourceBell 412 ↗Wikipedia contributors