Iranian president Raisi dead: What we know so far about the helicopter that crashed

Helicopter carrying Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi takes off, near the Iran-Azerbaijan border, May 19 (Reuters photo)

• The Bell 212, a civilian variant of the widely used Vietnam War-era UH-1N "Twin Huey," was developed by Bell Helicopter (now Bell Textron, a Textron Inc. division) for the Canadian military in the late 1960s.
• The upgraded design featured two turboshaft engines instead of one, enhancing its carrying capacity. Introduced in 1971, the helicopter was quickly adopted by both the United States and Canada.
• As a utility helicopter, the Bell 212 is designed to be versatile and adaptable to various situations, including passenger transport, aerial firefighting, cargo transportation, and weapons mounting.
• The Iranian model that crashed was configured for government passenger transport.
• Bell Helicopter markets the latest version, the Subaru Bell 412, for various applications such as police use, medical transport, troop transport, energy industry, and firefighting. According to European Union Aviation Safety Agency certification documents, it can accommodate up to 15 people, including the crew.
• The Bell 212 is operated by numerous non-military organizations, including Japan's Coast Guard, law enforcement agencies and fire departments in the United States, Thailand's national police, and many others.
• According to FlightGlobal's 2024 World Air Forces directory, Iran's air force and navy collectively possess 10 of these helicopters.
• The last fatal crash involving a Bell 212 occurred in September 2023, when a privately operated aircraft crashed off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to the Flight Safety Foundation, a non-profit organisation focused on aviation safety. Also, prior to this crash that killed Raisi and Abdollahian the most recent Iranian crash of this helicopter type was in 2018, resulting in four fatalities, as per the organization's database.