Tag Archives: Bell 505

Little Jet Ranger X Looks Better in Black

I’ve complained before that the JetRangerX is just not a good-looking helicopter.  I have seen a few of them around here over the last couple of years and one example has shown up a few times in a glossy black livery with a dragonfly style marking on the fuselage.  The cool paint does enhance the look of it a bit.  I still don’t think it looks good, but this is as good effort to improve things.

JetRanger X Overhead

In creating the 505 JetRanger X, Bell did not come up with the best-looking airframe.  It really doesn’t look like should with the nose looking very stubby.  However, it will probably sell well enough with Bell behind it.  One was making an approach to BFI from the west.  It wanted to land on the east side of the field but there was a lot of traffic inbound so they were made to hold on the west side for a while.  I was watching them over my shoulder.  Gradually they were drifting south towards me so they were almost overhead by the time that they were cleared to cross the field.  It gave me plenty of time to get some shots – even with the traffic on the main runway.

Jet Ranger X (Experimental)

The Bell 206 JetRanger was an immensely successful single turbine helicopter and was ubiquitous for decades.  However, the type was dated and more modern helicopters had come along and taken market share.  Bell needed to come up with a solution and that was the Bell 505 which has since become branded as the Jet Ranger X.  The project was not as smooth as intended but it has now entered more widespread service.

That didn’t mean I had actually seen one, though, until recently when I got to photograph one at Boeing Field.  At this point, trouble has reached the program again with fatigue failures in the controls for the right seat meaning you aren’t supposed to fly one solo from that seat until a redesigned control is fitted.  This will get addressed, of course, but it is another issue for the type.  The example I saw was marked as Experimental so I wonder what purpose it was being used for.  According to the FAA, it is registered to Bell but what it is doing is anybody’s guess.  Putting aside its technical issues, my biggest problem with the 505 is that I think it doesn’t look very good.  It reminds me of a tadpole and seems to have a slight feel of a toy design compared to the other types in this class (or the original JetRanger).  That is not going to make or break it of course – just a personal observation.