Bell recently delivered the first European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)-certified Bell 505 NXi. The handover of Bell’s latest iteration of its turbine light single, which was revealed a year ago and approved by EASA in December, was made at Bell’s Prague facility.
According to Bell, the 505 NXi features improvements such as the Garmin G1000H NXi integrated avionics suite with dual-core processors that reduce boot time by more than 50 percent; LED-backlit and improved displays that increase resolution and brightness; easy LRU replacement via automatically loaded software recognition; VFR/IFR charts available via the multifunction display; enhanced horizontal situation indicator with map, traffic, and terrain overlays; and an optional wireless datalink that enables flight plan and database uploads via a compatible mobile device.
“The new upgraded avionics provide workload reduction, situational awareness with faster processing power, and crisper displays to aid pilots with flight, aircraft, traffic, and terrain information in an easy-to-read format,” said Duncan Van De Velde, Bell's managing director for Europe and Russia.
Nearly 300 Bell 505s operate in more than 55 countries. The fleet has amassed more than 50,000 flight hours since the first customer delivery in March 2017. Powered by a 459-shp Safran Arrius 2R engine, the five-seat helicopter has a maximum cruise speed of 125 knots and a maximum range of 306 nm.