Bell 505 Hits 700 Deliveries at Farnborough Airshow

Bell Textron delivered the 700th Bell 505 on Monday at the Farnborough International Airshow, a milestone for a helicopter that has accumulated more than 390,000 flight hours across more than 55 countries and six continents since entering service in 2017. A private VIP operator received the light-single helicopter, which is based on the rotor and drive system of the Bell 206L4 and features Garmin avionics.

Besides the VIP and corporate segment, the Bell 505 serves as a military pilot training platform in Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Albania, Montenegro, Indonesia, Iraq, and South Korea. The helicopter’s open cabin and glass cockpit make it suited to training environments where student visibility is a priority.

"The Bell 505 is an incredible multimission aircraft, and we continue to see operators choosing this platform to join their fleet," said Robin Wendling, Bell’s managing director for Europe. "We look forward to welcoming our newest operator to the Bell family, while also celebrating all of our Bell 505 operators across the different mission segments throughout the world."