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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has grounded 2,715 Bell helicopters to order immediate inspections for improperly installed control bearings. The FAA terms this a, "critical unsafe condition" in requiring the short compliance time.
Affected models are the Bell 206A, 206B, 206L, 407 and 427 models.
Before the next flight, the FAA requires inspecting each cyclic control lever assembly that has less than 50 hours in service. The inspection is to determine if the bearing may be improperly installed or improperly staked in the lever assembly.
The Airworthiness Directive was the result of a report of an recently installed, but incorrectly installed bearing in the co-pilot's cyclonic control lever assembly. Improperly assembled, the bearing can fail, causing loss of control of the helicopter.
The Bell Alert Service Bulletins are 206-09-121, 206L-09-155, 407-09-85, and 427-09-23, dated March 10, 2009.
Bell's service bulletins indicate the company became aware of two instances where the bearing migrated out of the flight control lever because it had not been staked during assembly. Most troubling, each individual piece had been marked as fully inspected by Bell's supplier.
In a related understatement, Bell said: "Review of the supplier
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| 7240 KOYO | 200 | 360 | 58 |
| 7040C KOYO | 200 | 310 | 51 |