Launch Customer For Garmin G5000H, 525 Relentless Joins Bell's Ranks As Super Medium Helicopter

Promoted with a fair degree of showmanship, Bell Helicopter has unveiled the first public view of what they call the world’s first “super-medium” helicopter, the Bell 525 Relentless, early on the opening day of the 2012 Heli-Expo in Dallas, Texas.

“Today, we celebrate with our customers – not only the launch of this new product – but the result of our collective efforts to define a new class of helicopter that raises the bar on innovation in the industry,” said John Garrison, President & CEO, Bell Helicopter.

The Bell 525 Relentless defines the new “super medium” product class - positioned at the upper end of the medium class and designed to offer best-in-class capabilities to our customers. It features superior payload and range, cabin and cargo volumes and crew visibility.

“The new Bell 525 Relentless is a culmination of our research and development efforts, which were informed by a representative product development panel of our customers, including PHi, an industry leader in helicopter operations. Relentlessly listening to our customers and using their feedback to provide them with the right product at the right time has been the winning combination,” he said.

“Having PHi and our other customers engage with us on this unprecedented new aircraft validates our product development strategies – placing our customers at the center of everything we do. We appreciate the collaborative spirit we share with all of our customers who have participated in this innovative process,” he said.

The new Bell 525 Relentless will be powered by the reliable performance of world-class GE engines – the GE CT7-2F1.

This latest version of the highly successful CT7 family is designed with an emphasis on low fuel consumption, low cost of operation and with other technical features to ensure aircraft meet the requirements of long range, high payload missions. The CT7-2F1 engine includes a state-of-the-art Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) plus advanced materials, primarily in the turbine section. 

The 525 also serves as the launch customer for the new Garmin G5000H, an integrated flight deck specifically designed for twin turbine, medium lift helicopters. The G5000H combines widescreen displays with touchscreen controls to bring leading edge technology, safety enhancements and reliability to this class of helicopters.

“We are able to leverage our many years of experience providing quality and reliable situational awareness capabilities like synthetic vision, terrain alerting and datalink weather, to design a system that specifically supports the unique needs and challenges of the helicopter operating environment,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin’s vice president of aviation sales and marketing.

“With HSVT and HTAWS plus innovative tools like touchscreen control, Telligence voice command and 3D audio, the G5000H promises to reduce workload and enhance the safety of each mission.” The G5000H features high resolution, wide aspect ratio primary flight displays (PFD) and multi-function displays (MFD). The system supports multiple display sizes and is scalable to support a large number of display and touchscreen controller configurations.

Capable of carrying up to 16 passengers, the Bell 525 Relentless is designed to support our customers in various mission configurations including oil & gas, search & rescue, helicopter emergency medical services and VIP/corporate transport.

FMI: www.textron.com, www.bellhelicopter.com