Bell 525 Relentless Achieves First Flight

The super-medium helicopter Bell 525 Relentless has made successful maiden flight at the company’s aircraft assembly center in the USA.

“We have diligently executed our schedule to design, develop, build and test the aircraft, and look forward to the next phase of flight testing as we work towards certification,” said Matt Hasik, executive vice president of commercial programs at Bell Helicopter.

The company announced Wednesday that one main feature of the Bell 525 is the ability to perform CAT-A takeoffs and landings, to and from a helipad at maximum gross weight. The aircraft also features the first fully-integrated touch screen avionics suite designed for helicopters, the Garmin G5000H. 

The Bell 525 was designed with input from our Customer Advisory Panel as an aircraft to meet future requirements for operational safety, payload & range, cabin comfort and configuration and reliability.

Even if one of the two engines fails, the Bell 525 provides sufficient power to maintain occupant safety while lifting off with a single operational engine.

With over 60 helicopters reserved under letters of intent, the Bell 525 is designed to provide operators and end users situational awareness and the ability to perform a variety of missions under challenging weather conditions.

“The first flight test started with taxi testing and maneuvers and then went into an initial hover, performing various hover maneuvers and then tested low speed handling qualities with winds gusting to 20 knots,” said Jeff Greenwood, senior flight test pilot at Bell Helicopter.