Not Just Another Pretty Set Of Rotors While perusing the wares at HAI 2008, we had the chance to catch up with a helicopter that, frankly, rarely seems to get the attention it deserves. Enstrom's 480B, a carefully updated and accomplished turbine helicopter may be one of the industry's best kept secrets but we're pleased to see that the secret seems to be finally giving way to more attention for a solid rotorcraft. Enstrom tells us that the 480 series was developed to provide a more affordable, but equally competent, light turbine helicopter to a market historically dominated by the Bell 206B Jet Ranger and MD500. A thorough development program, which included three test aircraft and over 1500 hours of flight verification, led to FAA certification to FAR 27 standards in 1994. FAR 27 is a more current and rigorous certification basis than that achieved by the competitors in this class. The moist recent iteration, the 480B series, has now been certified in 16 ...