Company Delivers FLIR Ship To Fort Worth Police

The ribbon is cut and it's time to get down to business at Bell Helicopter's new sales facility north of Fort Worth (TX).

Immediately before the ribbon cutting, a new Bell 206B3 JetRanger was delivered to the Fort Worth Police Dept. Air Support Unit. The specially equipped aircraft has a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) that provides thermal imaging capabilities that helps locate people who may be lost or hiding. (Photo image attached "Air 1 Trinity")

In his comments at the ceremony, Bell Helicopter Chief Executive Officer Mike Redenbaugh said, "This move will provide our new matrix Sales & Marketing organization, training academy and eventually our product support warehouse functions absolutely premier world-class organization. In addition, there are plenty of lodging and restaurant facilities nearby to support our many customers from around the world that train with us."

Also attending and speaking at the event was Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief as well as Ross Perot Jr. chairman of Hillwood, the company that owns the land upon which Alliance sits.

The move by the Sales & Marketing group is the first of three groups that will eventually relocate to the Alliance Corridor. All moves will be completed by November 1, 2004.

The facility containing the Bell Helicopter Customer Center and Training Academy has 64,000+ square feet of office space, 82,000 square feet of hanger space and 15,000 square feet of warehousing space. In addition to the facility, Bell has acquired some property east of Interstate Route 35W to support flight-training operations.

The facility is being leased from Hillwood Development on a 15-year agreement. Built in 1999, the building underwent a three million dollar improvement in 2002. It comes with 400 parking spaces.

In addition to Bell Helicopter Marketing and the Training Academy, the facility will also serve as the delivery center and training school for the BA609 when deliveries begin.

FMI: www.textron.com