Bell 505 Jet Ranger X
Nigel, every time...every damn time I think you've developed a light-hearted spirit and a sense of humour, you prove me wrong.
Do you have to take everything SO seriously and personally? If I took every insult personally that's ever been hurled at me on this forum (most of them from you) I would've killed myself years ago.
Do you have to take everything SO seriously and personally? If I took every insult personally that's ever been hurled at me on this forum (most of them from you) I would've killed myself years ago.
Saw one up close today.
SN 65088
i backed away slowly and left it in the corner of the hangar where it belongs.
cant upload a pic...perhaps thats secret code for let it die in peace
SN 65088
i backed away slowly and left it in the corner of the hangar where it belongs.
cant upload a pic...perhaps thats secret code for let it die in peace
It arrived in Southampton on Monday and is being rebuilt next week . I have never posted photos so I may need an idiots guide !!! It will be ( sadly ) tentatively going on the market soon but I am still hoping to sell my 109 and have it priced at silly money now but one of them has to go !!!! I now have three people interested in 25% share @ £75k plus vat and have a plan that could result in v cheap flying ( sub 206 price ) in which case I would keep both ! For a quick sale I would go even cheaper ......��
Austria N505FW
In my other neck of the woods, I attended the Helidays / Hafenfest 2018 last weekend. Friday fly in , weather was rain rain and cold.The last time I saw Foxtrot Whiskey was back in February, during customer flight demonstration on the ramp at KGVT during Heli Expo (I was in the Bell 429).
Foxtrot Whiskey has been in Europe since April on customer demo tours, having being offloaded at Zeebrugge (?) looked after by local Bell/Robbo reps Air Technology then made its way to Germany. Anyhow here are my photos from last weekend.
Cheers
Foxtrot Whiskey has been in Europe since April on customer demo tours, having being offloaded at Zeebrugge (?) looked after by local Bell/Robbo reps Air Technology then made its way to Germany. Anyhow here are my photos from last weekend.
Cheers
I really think the 505 looks fine. The only thing I wish it had was longer skids, but only because of the look. Presumably the engineers made them that way because of... maths.
What is going on with the cyclic and collective though? Could have provided some switch blanks for bucketing etc... ive seen more realistic looking controls on computer joysticks! Shame they didnt use the l4 one with the "armament fire" button
Interesting, some of the "MAGnificent" interiors I have shot in Bell 429s leave a lot to be desired. Ill fitting sections etc. Hope the 505 versions are finished much better.
Bell 505 G-IGGI
It arrived in Southampton on Monday and is being rebuilt next week . I have never posted photos so I may need an idiots guide !!! It will be ( sadly ) tentatively going on the market soon but I am still hoping to sell my 109 and have it priced at silly money now but one of them has to go !!!! I now have three people interested in 25% share @ £75k plus vat and have a plan that could result in v cheap flying ( sub 206 price ) in which case I would keep both ! For a quick sale I would go even cheaper ......��
Helipixman
Flying the Bell 505
Hi PPRUNE ers,
after following this thread for quite a while, I used the chance today, offered by Agrarflug-Helilift and Bell, especially Tim Otteson, to make up my mind on the real machine.
OK, it is probably not winning the helicopter design award - but as long as design follows usability it seems ok.
Get a cool paint job and things look better ;-)
On the pro side, easy entry, good seats - more later, pedals easily adjustable.
The overhead panel is gone, you only find there the rotor brake and the fuel shut off lever.
Com-connection is on the right side of the pilotseat, which one has to get used to.
The cable either over the right shoulder or over the belly ;-)
Good battery, Tim used plenty of time to explain the glascockpit with battery on - no issue at all.
Baggage compartment moved compared to the Bell 206 but is still spacy.
I would also put on the pro side, that rotor head / tail rotor assembly is still Bell 206, rugged and proven over years (ok, no negative G, but easy to hangarage and maintain with existing facilities)
Other might have wanted something completely new, but the 505 is the JetRanger X, so its ok for me.
What caught my eye is the easy - and fast start of the engine up to ground idle. The FADEC is doing a good work there. Also accelerating to flight idle is easy.
Even better would be, if you won´t have to switch on the generator after start. I´m used to just check its on after reaching ground idle on the models I usually fly.
Flying
It was quite a while since my last SE flight and without stabilising systems.
Well, I hope, I did´t disappoint Tim to much ;-)
It was nearly no wind but tail rotor authority seemed much better as I recall from my 206 days.
Hovering, transitioning and flying was straight forward.
Close to the Bell 206 but with better tail rotor authority and lots of power available.
On the short hopp I did´t went to max speed but I felt some vibration coming with increasing speed.
The question will be, could tracking reduce that, so that prolonged flight at higher speeds are more comfy?
Probably, cause the bird was brand new, as well as the blades.
Up to around 100 KIAS everything was quite smooth, probably due to the new gearbox attachment with damping system.
On return I went for a power recovery autorotation.
Nr ought to be at 104 % (always, flight, autorotation) and dropped a little bit, cause I was a little bit surprised by the idle set by Tim.
Nevertheless, just a little flare and the Nr came back and the autorotation was no problem.
In my eyes, the Bell 505 is quite useful for training.
In normal operations the uneventful autorotation capabilities sure arenˋt a bad idea.
Also the monitoring systems would help so nobody can over torque and so on, without the owner knowing,
Fuel usage seems to be around 110 litres / hrs, which is quite good for the power available.
Cons or my points I don´t like to much.
Seat - a really nice comfy seat for me (nearly 190cm tall) until Tim told me, that for the flight the seat has to be in the front position to guarantee the escape space for the rear passengers….
Thats back to the Bell 206 seat feeling for me - ok, may be a little bit better, but I think it would be a big step forward, if the seat could be used in the back position,
The glas cockpit, I´m spoiled by Helionix, is to crowded for me.
I.e. the wind indication, calculated from the GPS is given as an arrow with heading und speed in numbers.
In my view, thats to much information. Just an arrow with the indications like from the weather charts for speed works well and needs no reading.
Also in this direction is cancelling warnings - which is done with a button on the bottom of the right screen.
There is a lot of space available on the cyclic, where a warning cancelation button could be implemented, so that you don´t have to take your hand of the cyclic in case you get one.
Overall I´m more pleased than disappointed, even after reading this thread beforehand ;-)
Photo by Rene Köhler, who caught me on the controls ;-)
Curious to hear from others that have flown the 505, how they find the feel of the cyclic? Is it light to move with the frictions off (like an R44, AS350, B206 etc) or does it feel stiffer?
Say, less sloppy like a 206 friction off.
Nice handling characteristics, as far as I can say from the few minutes hop
Thread Starter
Agile ... I can only assume you are not an owner / operator !!!! To us the looks are way way down the scale of importance !!! For me the economies rule every time . The 109 is more expensive to run ... but nowadays 9 out of ten charters or leases are for twins . That was not the case 10-15 years ago but steadily the single has been dropped by operators due to the lack of demand and now most aoc operators just use twins for charter.
I will post some photos when it arrives but I can honestly say it looks pretty cool in its dark blue and tan Seats ...!!
I will post some photos when it arrives but I can honestly say it looks pretty cool in its dark blue and tan Seats ...!!
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Much stiffer. I thought the frictions were still on but apparently that was the firm feel that it came with.
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Paris
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Does the turbine need to be started frequently when not used?
How often does a turbine need to be started in the case of a helicopter not flying over several weeks? I have heard that it is compulsory to run the turbine at least every 3 weeks... Comments? Thank you
I ˋm not a technican, but the ones which arenˋt flown (for sale) and are not in the maintanance hangar - with Arrius Engines - get turned once a week....
I think Bell has built over 100 505s like yours now. Maybe they aren't watering them enough? Perhaps BLR will offer them in an aftermarket kit replete with a bag of fertilizer!