Bell 505

Ranger X

Flying the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X

I didn’t need to be asked twice when the opportunity to jump in on a ferry flight of Bell’s brand-new 505 Jetranger X came up in late May. The new five-seat short light single’ fills the void in the Bell (note, just ‘Bell’, the company dropped ‘Helicopter’ from its name in February) product line left when production of the ubiquitous Bell 206B JetRanger, which dates back to 1962, ceased in 2010. Its successor features an all new five-seat cabin, Garmin’s impressive G1000H avionics suite and a 504shp Arrius 2R turbine – this is not your father’s JetRanger!