Bell is giving new buyers of its civil helicopters a free, three-month subscription to SiriusXM’s satellite-delivered aviation weather, information, and audio programming services. Bell is the first helicopter OEM to do so.
Bells equipped with Garmin's GDL 69 satellite datalink receiver can deliver SiriusXM aviation weather features including high-resolution composite radar updated every 2.5 minutes, surface visibility, Nexrad storm cell attributes, 2.5-minute lightning strike location updates, and base reflectivity radar. SiriusXM aviation weather has no line-of-sight restrictions, no altitude limitations, no gaps in coast-to-coast coverage, and provides weather and information from taxi to landing. Coverage is available for most of North America including a large section of Mexico, much of Canada and the Caribbean, and parts of southern Alaska.
“With SiriusXM Aviation, Bell will provide their pilots the ability to receive valuable weather features and information that are not always available via ground-based networks and updated data at a faster refresh rate,” said Dave Wasby, SiriusXM v-p of aviation, marine, and music. Pilots can also access audio entertainment outside the aircraft via the SiriusXM app.