FAA certification for the Bell 525

The Bell 525 engine has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification and has accumulated more than 1,000 flight hours and over 1,350 hours of total turn time.

The Bell 525 helicopter engine is General Electric’s (GE) CT7-2F1, one of the CT7 engine family. The CT7-2F1-powered Bell 525 Relentless is the world’s first fly-by-wire commercial helicopter, designed to operate safely and reliably in austere environments and with decreased pilot workload, GE notes.

“Achieving FAA certification is a great accomplishment for the CT7-2F1 programme, and the dedicated team involved,” said Elissa Lee, GE Aviation Executive Product Manager. “We are proud to support the Bell 525 Relentless with an engine designed to meet its performance objectives.”

Byron Ward, Vice-President, Bell 525, said: “The last month has been the most successful to date, in terms of completion of certification milestones for the Bell 525 programme,” He continued to add that FAA certification for the aircraft’s engine is another major achievement, and added: “We are that much closer to bringing the most advanced helicopter to market.”   

The FAA joined the Bell 525 flight test team in November 2018 and is now actively involved in certification flight testing in Yellowknife, Canada and the recent completion of snow testing certification in Rome, New York.

The final Bell 525 flight test vehicle is currently in Amarillo, Texas finalising ground-based certification testing and is scheduled to fly at the end of March 2019.