Bell Helicopter has appointed Able Engineering & Component Services as an approved service center. The appointment, announced here at Heli-Expo 2016, covers work on dynamic components through the drivechain of Bell’s aircraft, including the main transmission case assembly, the swashplate assemblies, main rotor hub and tailrotor.
Under the agreement, Able will be a principle support provider for dynamic components on the Bell 429. This will cover all warranty work and scheduled maintenance.
In January, Bell parent group Textron Aviation acquired Able Engineering and its Able Aerospace sister company. Able (Booth 209) provides component repairs and exchanges and replacement parts for around 2,000 commercial rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft customers around the world.
“We are very excited about joining the Textron enterprise and the benefits it will bring to our customers,” commented Lee Benson, CEO of Able Engineering & Component Services. “We’ve been working very closely together over the past year to ensure the acquisition by Textron is beneficial to all our stakeholders, and are proud to see our efforts come to fruition.”
Able will continue to provide overhaul and repair support for other aircraft manufacturers, including Finmeccanica Helicopter Division (formerly AgustaWestland), Sikorsky and Airbus Helicopters (for which it is also an approved service center). In some instances, Able supports operators that are doing some of their own repairs. In cases where older parts are not economical to repair or there is no solid supply chain, it manufactures some items itself.
“We’ve expanded our maintenance capability to cover entire helicopters, not just components, so this will include routine inspections, avionics, structural repairs, painting and completions,” Benson explained. “Our pricing has always been very competitive, we have some of the largest parts exchange inventories and we always take time to understand the customer’s perspective and needs. Our mission is to safely reduce aircraft operating costs.”