The Bell 505 was introduced at the 2013 Paris Airshow.
The Bell 505 is a five-seat, twin-blade, clean-sheet design aircraft using the drivetrain and rotor system of the Bell 206L4. It is powered by a single Safran/Turbomeca Arrius 2R engine with 505 shp and dual channel FADEC. The 505 will also be equipped with a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit.
Although the Bell 505 is an offspring from the Jet Ranger lineage, there are few commonalities between the 505 and its older relatives. The 206 drivetrain is really the only link to the Jet Ranger past.
There is a lot more headroom in the 505 than the 206B3, and the cabin layout has been improved dramatically by incorporating a flat floor into the design and rearranging the seats. Without the rear seats installed, there is plenty of room for cargo and the flat floor makes the cargo much easier to stack.
The first flight occurred on November 11, 2014.
