With 20 certifications in hand and hundreds of orders and letters of intent, Bell has ramped up production of its 505 Jet Ranger X and anticipates deliveries to pick up significantly this year. The manufacturer initially secured Transport Canada certification for its new Jet Ranger in late 2016, bringing to market a light single powered by a 504-shp Safran Arrius 2 with dual-channel Fadec and a fully integrated glass Garmin G10000H cockpit.

Bell handed over the first 505 last March and has since been adding new certifications and putting in place new production processes to achieve a higher volume.

The helicopter has been certified by a rapidly growing number of countries spanning from Chile and Argentina to South Korea and Japan to New Zealand and Mexico, among the numerous others. U.S. FAA had followed Transport Canada certification in June 2017. The European Aviation Safety Agency nod, meanwhile, came in November, leading to the delivery of the first two European-bound 505s to customers in late January. Those helicopters, handed over to unnamed customers, were in VIP configuration.

Next major certifications on the horizon include China, Brazil, and Russia, the manufacturer said.

Bell last year had delivered 27 of the aircraft to customers. Cynthia Garneau, the president of Bell Helicopter Textron Canada, noted delays in certain approvals slowed initial production, but “we’ve gone through this and that’s all behind us.” Production is fully ramped up, she said, adding, “We are…now at a point where we are meeting customer commitments to our customers in terms of timing.” 

While not sharing planned production numbers, Garneau promised the jump in production and deliveries “will be sizable.” Just this past month alone, Bell announced deliveries to Vietnam and Japan, as well as highlighted recent deliveries to  Australia.

A steady stream is anticipated to continue, based on the flow of orders that have come in for Bell’s new light single, which has quickly become the top seller of its in-production lines.

Bell had letters of intent for 400 of the new Jet Ranger Xs, and Garneau was encouraged that the conversions into firm orders have been proceeding well. But on top of that the company has continue to pad the order book with new and increased sales. Among these was the decision by Reignwood International Investment Group in November to significantly up its previous order for sixty 505s to a total of 110. Reignwood, a reseller of the model in China, is establishing a delivery and maintenance center for the 505 in China.

With a 1,500-pound useful load, 3.5-hour endurance and 306-nm range, Bell sees a number of corporate and parapublic roles for the 505. But it particularly is finding strong interest in training possibilities, said Bell program director of light helicopters Michael Nault. The company has negotiations ongoing over a number of large potential contracts from the training market, he added.

The light helicopter is priced between $1.2 and $1.8 million, depending on kits and configuration. Bell is continuing to make progress on various kits for the five-place 505, with a wire-strike-protection system now available. Alpine Aerotech recently obtained STC approval for its Bear Paw landing stabilizer kit on the model. Certifications are pending on several kits, including a cargo hook.

To accommodate demand, Bell is streamlining its production procedures and parts and tooling handling to increase helicopter output. This includes adopting more lean manufacturing techniques and shifting more to a “visual management” of its parts. Parts racks are simplified to easily see if something is missing. This streamlining is expected to continue throughout this year, with the goal of being able to make a block shift of all the aircraft through the stations at the same time.

Also, Bell installs any options on the 505 assembly line, a move Garneau said enables the company to compress the cycle time. “The 505 team came up with the idea of installing options before we do certification and flight test, so we do it only once,” she said. So far Bell has around 18 different options, covering everything from air conditioning to avionics upgrades to seats and carpet.