Bell 206

what is it?

The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter program, it was not selected by the Army. Bell redesigned the airframe and successfully marketed the aircraft commercially as the five-place Bell 206A JetRanger.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 turboshaft engine · 10.2 m main rotor

base stats

• speed 226 km/htop speed
• range 624 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 4passengers
• size 1,452 kgmax take-off weight
• built 7,300made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 64 years ago, in 1962.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Rotor of 10.2 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.

turboshaft: A turbine that turns a shaft, usually a helicopter rotor.

spec sheet

first flight

1962-12-08

introduced

1967

status

still flying

number built

7,300

role

multipurpose utility helicopter

origin

🇨🇦 Canada

makers

AgustaWestland, Bell Textron

engines

1× Allison 250-C20

crew

1

passengers

4

length

11.8 m

rotor diameter

10.2 m

height

2.9 m

max take-off weight

1,452 kg

top speed

226 km/h

cruise speed

222 km/h

range

624 km

ceiling

6,096 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family