Police_Helicopter_039.jpg)
Bell 412EP
N681FD is a Bell 412EP, a rotorcraft with turboshaft engines (a helicopter or multicopter). It has 15 seats. It is registered to Chicago Fire Dept, a government body in Chicago, Illinois. The registration is valid: it was issued on October 14, 2022 and expires on October 31, 2029. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for transport, dated May 26, 2007.
Where is it now checking the live feed…
Checking the volunteer receiver network for a recent position…
Aircraft broadcast their own position; volunteer receivers pool what they hear. Owners who have asked the FAA not to be displayed are not shown.
Flight history: where it flew in the last seven days · follow it on the live map
Aircraft
- Maker
- Bell
- Model
- 412EP · all 412EPs and related versions
- Built of
- aluminium with composite partsA mostly aluminium airframe with composite parts where they save weight: control surfaces, fairings, the tail or the rotor blades. Composite main rotor blades. This is how the Bell 412 family is built; the FAA does not record construction for each aircraft, and the type certificate data sheet is the authority for this one.
- Serial number
- 36438
- Type
- RotorcraftFAA type of aircraft code 6 (the FAA's broad category for the airframe). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Power
- TurboshaftFAA type of engine code 3 (what powers it, as the FAA classes engines). Every aircraft with this code · All codes, 2 motors · P&W Canada PT6T-3DF · 900 hp
- Seats
- 15
- Year built
- Not given
- Transponder code
- A9076F (octal 52203557)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- October 14, 2022
- Expires
- October 31, 2029
- Last FAA action
- September 9, 2023
- Airworthiness
- StandardFAA airworthiness class code 1 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). Every aircraft with this code · All codes · TransportFAA certificate purpose code T (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · May 26, 2007
- FAA region
- Great LakesFAA region code C (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00353019
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Chicago Fire Dept
- Type
- GovernmentFAA type of owner code 5 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Address
- 3954 e Foreman Dr
Chicago, IL 60617-6551
Owners can ask the FAA to withhold their name and address from public files. When they do, those fields are blank here as well. How that works.
Documents on file 0
No bills of sale, loans or other documents are indexed against this tail number.
Connections how N681FD links to the rest of the register
- Bell 412 87 registered
- Bell 3,082 aircraft on the register
- Built of aluminium with composite parts · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-3DF 9 aircraft with this engine series · 900 hp
- Type certificate H4SW · held by Bell Textron INC
- Chicago Fire Dept 1 aircraft registered to this organisation
- Chicago, IL 1,559 aircraft registered in this town
- Chicago Midway International · MDW
- Chicago O'Hare International · ORD
- Lansing Municipal · IGQ
- Illinois 8,050 aircraft registered
- FAA orders naming the Bell 412 61 airworthiness directives
- Failure reports filed on the Bell 412 4,697 reports since 1995
- Approved modifications for the Bell 412 413 supplemental type certificates
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N681FD.json.
Records check free · 1 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N681FD, read the way a buyer, lender or insurer reads it: FAA registration, prior tail numbers keyed on the serial number, reuse of the tail number, recent registry filings, and the NTSB accident record under this and every earlier registration.
Valid registration to Chicago Fire Dept, a government body, certificate issued October 14, 2022, expires October 31, 2029. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for transport; the FAA file gives no certificate date and no manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 36438 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
No other airframe has carried N681FD according to the deregistered file. [2]
No bills of sale, loans or releases have reached the registry in recent weeks. The index covers only recent filings; older liens are in the records file. [3]
1 NTSB record under N681FD: Accident on June 30, 2006 at Chicago, IL: minor injuries, substantial damage. Details below. [4]
These live in the FAA aircraft records file (every document ever filed against the aircraft) and, for larger aircraft, the International Registry. Part of the full report.
AD compliance against the logbooks and flight-activity reconciliation are researched layers of the full report.
NTSB records 1
Aircraft on the NTSB record: Bell UH-1H · operated under PUBU
The in-flight separation of a tail rotor driveshaft hanger bearing due to inadequate maintenance performed by maintenance personnel. Contributing to the accident was the inability to maintain directional control due to the lack of tail rotor thrust.
Full record in plain English · Docket and reports at the NTSB
- FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of October 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL), records through September 30, 2026. data.ntsb.gov/carol-main-public/basic-search
This automated check reads the public federal record. Nothing here is a legal opinion, an appraisal or a statement about the aircraft's condition; a CLEAR line is a statement about the searched record, not the aircraft.
Source: FAA Civil Aviation Registry, Releasable Aircraft Database, October 23, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data