There is plenty of head room. From
my time in the Army I remember a
number of taller pilots scraping the
ceiling of a Kiowa (the military B206)
once they had their helmets on. No
issues here. The only things mounted
overhead are the fuel shutoff, rotor
brake, a nav light, hooks for headsets
and the airconditioning vents.
Surprisingly, the cabling for the
fuel shutoff and rotor brake and
electrical wiring is exposed in its roof
slots. For passengers sitting in the rear
seats this is probably masked slightly
by the aircon vents blocking their view
of it, but it does detract from the feel
of the aircraft finish.
The bolt heads on the roof holding
the upper hydraulics cowling on are
plainly visible and there is no cabin
carpet or noise insulation material to
finish over the bare cabin frame roof
as a standard Bell fit as yet.
The cabin floor is completely
flat. The one we flew had a locally
manufactured carpet inlay added after
purchase. The more utility version
seen at Rotortech had a bare hard
deck floor with a very military look
and feel to it. The only fittings to break
up the flat deck of the cabin are the
seat rails for the front seats, dust/FOD
boots of the collective and cyclics, a
flight manual/map storage holder, the
FRAHM vibration box between the
seats and a small fire extinguisher.
The main cabin doors are monsters
compared to the older B206 design,
with the one door for access to both
the front and back seats. But from the
front seat you don’t have to reach right
back to be able to operate the internal
handle, instead there are two internal
latches to open the door. For the front
seat you reach back level with the rear
of your seat and the passengers have
another one further rear again that is
easy for them to reach.
The doors need a pretty firm pull or
a bit of a swing to get up the inertia to
engage the pins. The top locking pin at
the rear of the door has a white visual
mark to indicate if the latches are fully
in. Some neck twisting from the front
seats is required to check that latch as
it is a long way back. The amount of
visibility out the door’s huge window is
fantastic with it coming down to only
a few inches off the ground.
The door mounts and gas strut
look fairly sturdy but the doors have
so much surface area that I would
be concerned in stronger winds or
if another machine was landing
anywhere nearby.
I should note I have a few concerns
about how I would go in a water
ditching situation from the front
seat in the 505. These mainly centre
around the size of the door and theforward seat position.
There is no door jettison function to
pop the doors prior to entry or during
the initial escape, and the size of the
door could make it difficult to force
open against outside water pressure
pushing against it. The door opening
latch is not in the position it is in many
aircraft where you can slide your hand
almost directly sideways and find it –
you do have to reach backwards and
down to actuate.
I would want to sit there and
practise to build up some muscle
memory. Sliding your seat rearwards
to exit would also be an important part
of practise drilling to provide a bigger
space to pull yourself through. Sliding
the seat back would also help with
locating the door latch.
(A pop-out float option is an
available fit and is certified for use.)
Meanwhile, the rear of the cabin
has a quarter door or clamshell door
on the left side only, which can be
swung out and rearwards to provide
full access right to the back wall of the
cabin floor for bulky items.
Behind the main cabin wall is a
18cu ft (0.5m^3 ) baggage bay, accessed
by a 56cm (w) by 42cm (h) door,
just big enough to sneak in a large
hardshell suitcase.
It affords a pretty big continuous
volume, which is important given theGreat visibility is a highlight of
the 505.BELL‘Thankfully
the 505’s
cabin is a
completely
open space.’
AIR TEST Bell 505