Bell sells Model 47 rights

This could also go in the general aviation or modern military (since a few are still serving with various armed forces) forums, but since it’s the world’s first certified helicopter, I thought I’d put it here.

Here’s a Bell news release:

“Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, today announced that Scott’s Helicopter has assumed ownership of the Model 47 type certificate.

Beginning in the first quarter of 2010 all aspects of commercial spares support, technical support and continued airworthiness for the FAA type certificated Bell 47 helicopter will become the responsibility of Scott’s Helicopters, a Bell-approved Customer Service Facility (CSF) located in Le Sueur, Minn.

Danny Maldonado, senior vice president and chief services officer at Bell, said, “This model really started the commercial helicopter business and Bell has a lot of heritage in the 47. However, we felt it was the best thing for our customers, and the 47, to transition ongoing support to Scott’s Helicopter and we have every confidence that Scott’s will continue to provide outstanding service and support.”

Since its inception in 1946, the Bell 47 has transformed aviation and today remains an extremely viable aircraft with unparalleled capabilities, especially in pilot training and agricultural spraying operations. Most importantly, the Bell 47 has a dedicated and loyal customer following. Scott’s brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and passion to this market. Bell acknowledges this expectation by leaving its name attached to the product; the model will be re-titled as “Scott’s-Bell 47.”

Bell continues to explore industry alliances with its worldwide network of approved Customer Service Facilities (CSFs) to improve the overall support and mission capabilities for its legacy products. The sale of the Model 47 type certificate is the first step in developing these alliances.”

What isn’t addressed is the possibility of a restart of production. With its (presumably) lower overhead, Scott’s could possibly re-launch 47 production at a lower cost than than it would have been possible for Bell to do.

Graham Warwick notes in his blog at the Aviation Week magazine website that “Other companies have done this – Bombadier selling the type certificates for out-of-production de Havilland Canada aircraft to Viking Air, which has put the DHC-6 Twin Otter back in production.”

It would be nice to see Robinson get some competition in the helicopter training market.

I follow the Bell 47 market and am familiar with many of the rebuilders, parts and modification suppliers, but have never heard of Scott’s Helicopter. But admittedly, I’m not a crop sprayer and that seems to be a large part of their market.
Their website is a model of non-information and doesn’t even carry the announcment.