Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Signs for a Bell 505, Continues Legacy of an All-Bell Helicopter Fleet

Houston, Texas (August 1, 2024) - Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced a signed purchase agreement for the sale of a Bell 505 to Spokane County Sheriff’s Office during APSCON 2024, highlighting its legacy of operating an all-Bell emergency response aviation fleet.

“Bell is honored to continue to work alongside Spokane County Sheriff’s Office as they build upon their public safety aviation fleet with the 21^st century capabilities of the Bell 505 platform,” said Lane Evans, managing director, North America.

In 2005, the Spokane Regional Air Support Unit was created following the United States Army’s donation of a Bell OH-58 helicopter to the department. Since then, the Air Support Unit has expanded its fleet with an additional Bell OH-58 and a Bell UH-1H. With the recent purchase of a Bell 505, the Unit is planning to expand upon their search and rescue, homeland security, and natural disaster damage assessment support.  

“The Spokane Regional Air Support Unit has a long and successful history with Bell. This new 505 will continue with our fleet modernization plans by providing effective air support to our entire region. This new aircraft is a much-needed addition to our fleet, and will serve us well for years to come,” said Chief David Ellis, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Combining its Safran Arrius 2R engine, dual channel FADEC, and Garmin G1000H NXi all-glass avionics suite with a moving map display – the Bell 505 is one of the most technologically advanced platforms in its class. The added benefit of wide panoramic windows, open cabin design, and Synthetic Vision technology has classified the Bell 505 as an ideal aircraft for those in the public safety field.

To find out more about how the Bell 505 advances missions worldwide, please visit the Bell product page or visit the Bell booth (#100) this week during APSCON 2024.

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements which may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, changes in aircraft delivery schedules or cancellations or deferrals of orders.