I have seen many experienced pilots criticise the 505, but in my opinion, it's a superb machine. Bearing in mind, it was built to a price using an old but thoroughly understood and reliable rotor and tail system. But Bell really scored with the simple, elegant, but powerful cockpit and its airframe integration with the Garmin units. The fly idle switch is genius. Most helicopter cockpits, including other Bell products and Airbus helicopters, still look as if they are from the 1950's. Cluttered, a mess of glass and analogue gauges with switches and instrumentation thrown everywhere. The 505 shows what can be done with a clean design cockpit layout. Its 2023 let the automation with redundancy take over some of the tasks. The 505 cockpit now makes other Bell products look old. Airbus helis are you paying attention, more modern cockpits, please.
I will not buy a Bell Helicopter having all the choices you guys have in Europe, mainly the ones they build in France 🇫🇷 and the family of EuroCopters.
@@hc8714 A local TV station in Seattle was temporarily leasing an AS350B2 and it had a tail rotor failure right after taking off from the helipad. In less than fifteen seconds, a 30+ year photojournalist and pilot were killed. When I researched the type of helicopter, the AS350B2 has a very high incidence of tail rotor failure. The Bell 206 pales in comparison. Also, the Bell 206B3 has the safest single-engine flight record of any light aircraft ever built. That is a fact. The autorotation capabilities of Bell helicopters are second to none.
