Bell Helicopter has received type certificate approval from Transport Canada for its new five-seat Model 505 Jet Ranger X light single, the company announced today. Bell unveiled the 505 in 2013.
The helicopter is powered by a 504-shp Safran Arrius 2R turboshaft with dual channel Fadec (3,000 hour TBO) and features the Garmin G1000H avionics suite. In March, Safran detailed plans to offer 505 customers support-by-the-hour maintenance coverage in cooperation with Bell’s Customer Advantage Plan, with no minimum annual flight-hour requirement, for approximately $300 per flight hour.

Development costs and time on the 505 were reduced by using much of the main rotor system of the Bell 206L4 LongRanger. The 505 will have a maximum cruise speed of 125 ktas, a maximum range of 340 nm, a useful load of 1,470 pounds, a wide-opening double-door, and an open layout with flat cabin floor and 61 cu ft of rear cabin volume for passengers or cargo. Initial price of the base aircraft will be set at “around $1 million.”

Earlier this year Bell announced that it has scrapped plans to build the 505 at a new dedicated plant in Lafayette, Louisiana, and said that production would be shifted to its main commercial complex at Mirabel, Quebec.

Bell currently holds more than 400 letters of intent from Jet Ranger X customers and is now in the process of converting those to firm orders. Bell expects first customer deliveries and FAA certification in 2017. Bell CEO Mitch Snyder said he anticipates Bell to deliver fifty 505s in 2017, ramping up to an annual production rate of 150 in 2018.