FLYING took the opportunity to see what’s on the horizon in terms of both traditional helicopters and the red-hot powered-lift and eVTOL categories ahead of the Helicopter Association International’s HeliExpo in February at Anaheim, California.

Bell 525

The Bell 525 (at right) proposes to bring the first fully digital, fly-by-wire rotorcraft to the civil market, and Bell Helicopter has been hard at work getting the program to the finish line down at its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.

So what does that mean? The FBW design logic on the 525 is different from an aftermarket add-on autoflight system such as the GFC 600H. In this case, Bell’s partnership with Garmin has translated to the G5000H flight deck.

Tim Evans, business development manager on the 525 program, gave FLYING a special update ahead of Heli-Expo.

“Broadly speaking, flight testing is continuing very nicely, with the good relationship we have with the FAA,” said Evans. “Last year, we were able to complete nine TIAs towards certification, and by the end of February, we should have only five events left. Two of them we’re already into, and the other two [should be complete] by midyear.”

• READ MORE: Bell 360 Invictus Prototype Advances with T901 Engine Delivery

At that point, all of the delegated activities that Bell is responsible for will be finished—and the team will turn things over to the FAA. From there, functional and reliability testing is the last milestone to cross, with 150 hours of flying with the FAA, putting the 525 through its operational paces.

As with similar Textron Aviation aircraft programs, Bell engaged its Customer Advisory Board, which gave a clear message.

“The overwhelming response?” said Evans. “It’s automation that will bring a level of safety seen commensurately on the fixed wing side—the redundancy will be game-changing to how the civil market functions.”

According to Bell, the 525 will deliver what the customer feedback told it was needed: “When you pull it into a hover and get to 20 to 30 feet—with no pedals—it will hold that attitude, essentially hands off.”

Pilots can also turn into an angle of bank, with no pedal inputs, and the 525 will do a full 360 at the input bank angle.

“The control laws are able to anticipate and calculate the pilots’ inputs,” said Evans, noting that the 525 also benefits from a level of redundancy not seen before in this class of rotorcraft. “We’re shaping some of the requirements in Part 29, so the FAA required a triple redundancy—three computers, three hydraulic [systems]—so [it’s] a safer aircraft at a foundational level.”

Several markets that Bell shaped the 525 for include offshore, VIP/head of state, and SAR/parapublic/Coast Guard—so Bell built certain provisioning into the airframe itself, though kitting will take care of the details. Bell has multiple launch customers and is in active negotiations, though it can’t say yet who those first deliveries will go to.

In closing our briefing, Evans also wanted to highlight the green side of the design.

“If you compare the 525 to others in the medium space, it’s going to be 30 percent more efficient than a [Sikorsky] S-92. That’s one we’re pretty proud of. We’ve also flown it on SAF fuel, a 30 percent blend, but capable of up to 100 percent.”

Leonardo AW09 and AW609

Two projects from Leonardo Helicopters have also been winding their way through the certification process along the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) track—the modern-yet-standard AW09 helicopter and the AW609 tiltrotor design.

The single-engine AW09 was originally developed by Kopter Group, a company acquired by Leonardo in 2020. Proposed as a multimission solution for VIP transport, emergency medical services, utility operations, and security teams, the AW09 will carry up to eight passengers.

A five-blade, all-composite rotor system will translate into smooth flight characteristics and a high degree of maneuverability. Up front, the Garmin G3000H flight deck offers pilots next-generation glass. The Safran Arriel 2K powerplant has dual channel FADEC with an auxiliary backup system. Projected retail pricing begins at $3.9 million.

• READ MORE: Leonardo Tests AI-Enabled Visual Awareness System for Rotorcraft

A year ago, on March 16 and 17, Leonardo began familiarization flight testing with EASA on the tiltrotor AW609, following on to FAA testing in February. The company plans dual certification, so it is moving through the process with both agencies concurrently. Leonardo pursues this strategy in hopes of making up for some lost time, as the AW609 began life in the 1990s as a joint project between Bell and Agusta, called the BA609.

That’s probably why it bears some resemblance to the more commonly known Bell V-22 Osprey. The AW609 similarly enters the powered-lift category with its ability to take off vertically and fly at high cruise speeds with props tilted forward—up to twice the speed of normal helicopters, according to the company. The expected service ceiling will be 25,000 feet msl.

Its projected certification timeline remains in the distance, with a proposed retail price beginning at roughly $24 million.

Up Next for Robinson?

Robinson continues to set the pace on the light GA end of the market with its line of piston-powered R22s and R44s, and turbine R66 helicopters.

• READ MORE: Airworthiness Directive Issued for Robinson Helicopters

While the Lycoming O-320-powered R22 is well known in training, the R44—with its O-360 engine—crosses over into the recreational and light transportation markets with the Raven and Raven II variants. The R66 fulfills a variety of roles, with added cruise speed—up to 110 knots—extra passenger capacity, and turbine reliability from its Rolls-Royce RR300 engine.

As of press time, the company indicated news on the horizon that it would be sharing at Heli-Expo—including the updated empennage for the R44—so stay tuned into FLYING’s reporting from the event.

eVTOLs Next?

As we gear up for Heli-Expo, we know that the show floor will host an entire flight line of eVOTLs in various stages toward initial FAA certification. While we covered Joby Aviation’s prospects in detail in our “First Look: Joby’s eVTOL Future” piece in this issue, it is far from the only player in town.

Archer Aviation’s Midnight has recently passed its Phase 1 flight testing program, hot on Joby’s heels. The company announced in late January that it would be ready for the beginning of for-credit flight testing with the FAA later in 2024. The Midnight cuts a similar profile to the Joby aircraft—carrying one pilot plus four passengers—but with six fixed rotors in a forward flight position and six fixed for vertical flight. The test unit has yet to make the transition from vertical to forward flight as of press time, but we expect this to come soon.

Beta Technologies launched its program with a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft

called the Alia to test its electric propulsion system in a more traditional airframe before moving forward into the powered-lift space. As of late January, Beta had conducted multiple flights with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Department of Defense in both on-base and cross-country ops as part of the Agility Prime program. While it tests the applicability and cost reduction

possible—using electric aircraft in missions including casualty evacuation to go operational in 2025—Beta hopes to take what it learns and produce an eVTOL version by 2026.

Overair’s Butterfly eVTOL is also coming up quickly, as the Southern California-based company signs on several new customers in South Korea as well as Houston-based Bristow Group. Overair is now working through its G-1 Stage III means of compliance documentation with the FAA, with testing of the full-scale, six-seat prototype to begin later this year.

Meanwhile, south of the equator, Eve Air Mobility recently saw Brazilian aviation authority ANAC release the proposed airworthiness criteria for its design, along with bringing a list of key suppliers on board. Eve broke ground on its manufacturing facility in Taubaté, Brazil, earlier this year as well.

Many other players, including Volocopter, Lilium, and Jump Aero continue to chug along—and the race is really heating up as to who will make it to certification first. Oh, wait—that honor already belongs to EHang, which obtained CAAC’s blessing for its EH216-S in China in late 2023—and made the first commercial demonstration flights with it by December.

This feature first appeared in the March 2024/Issue 946 of FLYING’s print edition.

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The recommendation issued Friday asks both U.S. and Canadian aviation regulators to require both immediate and more frequent inspections of certain components on Bell Textron Inc.’s Bell 407 helicopters.

According to the NTSB, the crash of a Bell 407 near Kalea involved an inflight separation of the tail boom. The main wreckage of the tour helicopter was found 700 feet from the tail boom which came down in lava-covered terrain.

The pilot and two passengers were seriously injured in the crash. Three other passengers received minor injuries.

“We’re calling on regulators to act immediately—before there’s another accident,” stated NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “With hundreds currently in service, the Bell 407 helicopter is a popular model among tour operators, police departments, air ambulance providers, and many others, which is why our finding is so urgent.”

Investigation Leads to Recommendation

During the examination of the helicopter wreckage, the NTSB found that the upper left attachment hardware—installed in one of four fittings that attaches the tail boom to the fuselage—was missing and could not be located at the accident site. The remaining three fittings and hardware were found with the tail boom, and one fitting had multiple fatigue fractures and two fittings presented overload fractures.

In the recommendation the NTSB noted, “There may be additional Bell 407 helicopters with missing or fractured tail boom attachment hardware, and the potential for catastrophic failure warrants immediate and mandatory action.”

The current inspection interval for the tail boom per the manufacturer’s recommendation is 300 hours. The NTSB noted the accident occurred just 114 hours following the last inspection of the helicopter tail boom and did not turn up any anomalies. 

The NTSB is urging the FAA and Transport Canada to require Bell 407 operators to conduct an immediate inspection of the tail boom attachment hardware and to reduce the inspection interval from 300 hours to a more conservative number to “increase the likelihood of detecting fractured attachment hardware before a catastrophic failure can occur.”

The NTSB further asked the aviation regulators to require the operators to report their findings to their respective regulatory authority.

The NTSB released the preliminary findings on the accident earlier this year. The final report has yet to be compiled.

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The Bell 407GXi equipped with the Garmin G1000H NXi has obtained IFR certification, Garmin announced on September 5, 2019. A variety of advanced features makes the G1000H NXi optimized for use in helicopter operations, and the certification paves the way for the aircraft’s use in certain military applications.

The G1000H NXi consists of a PFD and an MFD capable of displaying in a variety of modes depending on the phase of flight and the pilot’s selections. Primary among the system’s new features is the helicopter terrain awareness and warning system (HTAWS) that depicts obstructions in five-color shading, with voice callout alerts for obstacles, such as powerlines and towers. The HTAWS is complemented by HSVT (helicopter synthetic vision technology), giving the pilot a view into real-time three-dimensional images—and additional information regarding obstructions in dynamic environments. The Garmin NXi can show helicopter routes through eight major metropolitan areas, further increasing its utility—along with its ability to display data from onboard weather radar, radar altimetry, engine information, and video inputs from certain compatible camera systems.

The WireAware wire-strike avoidance technology overlays graphic powerline information on the moving map page. This data is available in the United States, as well as certain parts of Canada and Mexico.

The IFR certification addresses two specific areas: the needs of single-engine helicopter operators, and to meet the requirements of the U.S. Navy Advanced Helicopter Training System competition.

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Traffic-hopping eVTOL air taxis are all the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, with Bell stealing headlines by unveiling the 6,000-pound Nexus, a hybrid-propulsion ducted-rotor aircraft boasting a projected 150-mile range, a top speed of 150 mph, expansive windows and an “augmented reality enhanced” flight experience.

The company formerly known as Bell Helicopter said the hyrbid-electric propulsion aircraft will use six tilting fans to take off and land vertically from rooftops or heliports. Artist renderings show the Nexus as having one pilot seat in front of four passenger seats. A wrap-around cockpit includes an unconventional-looking array of controls and displays. Bell says a critical next step “is designing a flight control ecosystem that allows individuals to safely and efficiently operate urban air vehicles.”

Bell rebranded itself last year as a technology company after decades as a top manufacturer of commercial and military helicopters. It was one of the first aircraft manufacturers to team up with Uber in 2017, when the ride-hailing company first released its ambitious Uber Elevate plan to create a network of city-based flying taxis as a way to alleviate street-level traffic. Since then, Bell has been working on its own design, and at CES this week it pulled back the curtain on its first concept.

Besides Bell, the Nexus development team includes Safran, which will provide the hybrid propulsion and drive systems, EPS for the energy storage systems, Thales for the flight control computer hardware and software, Moog to develop the flight control actuation systems and Garmin to integrate the avionics and vehicle management computer. Visitors at CES can view the prototype Tuesday through Friday.

Bell is aiming to have the Nexus in flight over a handful of major markets by the mid-2020s.

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Garmin International is continuing to expand its scope, teaming up with Textron’s Bell Helicopter to develop and integrate the autonomous vehicle management computer (VMC) systems needed for Bell’s recently announced, yet-to-be named VTOL aircraft.

In this partnership, Bell will be responsible for making the VTOL fly while the GPS and avionics systems giant will create the avionics hardware and software required for on-demand mobility (ODM). This will include primary flight information, navigation, communication, flight guidance and flight management systems. Garmin’s new systems will be designed to provide enhanced safety and situational awareness during day and night, and in a variety of weather conditions.

“As a demonstrated and trusted innovator in the avionics industry, we look forward to leveraging our decades of experience, our ongoing development of simplified vehicle operations, and expansion into autonomous systems to deliver an innovative solution to this exciting, emerging market,” said Garmin’s vice president of aviation marketing and sales, Carl Wolf.

Bell previously signed a partnership deal with French engine manufacturer Safran, which will design a hybrid electric powerplant for the VTOL. “There is still work to be done to operationalized on-demand mobility (ODM) in the vertical dimension, but we believe the future is real, possible, and very close to becoming a reality,” said Bell’s vice president of innovation, Scott Drennan.

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At the Future of Transportation World Conference, which takes place this week in Köln-Messe, Germany, Bell Helicopter and Safran announced they are collaborating on a VTOL aircraft for the air-taxi market.

The futuristic-looking VTOL concept will be designed, developed and produced by Bell, while the hybrid electric power system will be developed by Safran. “Thanks to the long and sustained technology-development strategy conducted within the Safran group, we can now offer Bell our hybrid electric power solutions for their next generation products that result in improved performance giving more value to our customers,” said Safran’s senior executive vice president of R&T and innovation, Stéphane Cueille.

What that power plant might look like remains to be seen. While a conceptual cabin mock up has already been designed by Bell, it does not show whether the VTOL will be elevated by a traditional helicopter rotor or some other source of lift. The mockup of the VTOL was first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

Bell’s director of innovation, Scott Drennan, sees the partnership with Safran as a major step in the right direction for the project. “Our work with Safran is a historical milestone for future transport solutions,” he said.

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Bell launched the upgraded Bell 407GXi at Heli-Expo 2018 this week featuring the Garmin G1000H NXi avionics system and new Fadec-controlled Rolls-Royce engine along with an upgraded executive cabin.

The 407GXi gained its Transport Canada type certificate on January 19 and will begin reaching customers this spring, Bell said. The new model replaces the 407 GXP, adding a second Fadec channel for redundancy to the light single.

“We are always looking at ways to innovate our current product line to provide our customers with the most capable, dependable, and technologically advanced aircraft in the market,” said Susan Griffin, executive vice president, Commercial Business for Bell. “The Bell 407GXi delivers improved pilot awareness, higher precision navigation, enhanced engine controls and improved connectivity.”

Garmin’s NXi Integrated Flight Deck incorporates higher-definition displays and faster processors that enable additional features as well as increased brightness and clarity, faster startup and map rendering and connectivity to tablets and smartphones.

The 407GXi benefits greatly from the new Rolls-Royce M250-C47E/4 turbine engine, which Bell said delivers better hot and high performance, fuel efficiency and a 133 knot top cruise speed. Finally, newly designed executive configuration options bring a “modernized look and passenger experience” to the five-seat club cabin, Bell said.

Additional options for the 407GXi include the Garmin FlightStream 510 that lets pilots upload flight plans from smart devices, Garmin SurfaceWatch that provides runway identification and airport surface alerting technology, a 3,100-pound cargo hook and a health usage monitoring (HUMS) for aircraft system diagnostics.

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If the stylized dragonfly in its new logo didn’t tip you off, the disappearance of the word “helicopter” from its name should provide an ample clue that Bell Helicopter – or just Bell, we should say now – recognizes that its future lies well beyond the boundaries of rotorcraft like the ubiquitous Hueys and JetRangers that made it famous since the 1960s and 70s.

As any aviation history buff knows, Bell started out in 1930s as a manufacturer of what would become legendary World War II fighters like the P-39 Airacobra, and later the Bell X-1 rocket plane flown beyond the sound barrier for the first time in 1947 by Chuck Yeager.

But Bell has been linked in more recent times as the successful helicopter division of Textron Aviation, which also owns sister brands Cessna and Beechcraft. Noting that the company is moving in a new direction for a new era of vertical aviation, Bell president and CEO Mitch Snyder explained that Bell is now a “technology company redefining flight.”

Last month, Bell was at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas displaying a full-scale design of an on-demand Urban Air Taxi, a joint project with the ride-sharing service Uber called Uber Elevate.

Projects like this one explain the unusual choice for the reimagined Bell logo, Snyder says. “The dragonfly can take off and land wherever it wants, fly quickly and efficiently in any direction, and hover at will. It represents the mastery of flight, something Bell strives to achieve.”

Bell unveiled the new logo and mission-vision to the vertical-flight world today at Heli-Expo, which opened in Las Vegas this morning.

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More than 7,000 attendees of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas stopped by Bell Helicopter’s exhibit to get a sneak peek at “the future of urban air transportation.” Among the guests lined up for the Air Taxi virtual reality ride were Silicon Valley guru Guy Kawasaki and Avengers actor Anthony Mackie, though they presumably skipped the line and the two-hour wait.

As companies race to make “flying cars” and air taxis a reality as early as 2020, Bell has already partnered with Uber Air to “develop technologies that will lead to an aircraft to satisfy short distance urban operations.” Based on the augmented reality simulator at CES, Bell is indeed committed to providing “class-leading comforts” and a “seamless, connected experience.”

The company believes the future of transportation is coming sooner than we think.

“Bell Helicopter is innovating at the limits of vertical flight and challenging the traditional notion of aviation to solve real-world problems,” Bell Helicopter’s President and CEO Mitch Snyder said at CES. “The future of an urban air taxi is closer than many people realize. We believe in the positive impact our design will have on addressing transportation concerns in cities worldwide.”

Even the FAA’s new acting administrator Dan Elwell visited the exhibit to take a simulated voyage with Bell and Uber officials, in addition to discussing the importance of safety and innovation.

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