Rotorcraft
Bell CEO is optimistic despite many challenges
Mike Redenbaugh took over the CEO’s office at Bell Helicopter’s Fort Worth, Texas headquarters in May and now faces some formidable challenges–including ge

Mike Redenbaugh took over the CEO’s office at Bell Helicopter’s Fort Worth, Texas headquarters in May and now faces some formidable challenges–including getting the military V-22 tiltrotor program on track and completing certification of the BA609 civil tiltrotor in cooperation with partner Agusta Aerospace of Italy. Another cooperative project with Agusta, the twin-engine AB139, has received Italian certification but awaits FAA approval until issues with the configuration of the Honeywell Primus Epic avionics suite are resolved. The U.S. ticket is expected next year.

Redenbaugh told AIN, “The corporate segment is important to me. We project delivering 36 rotorcraft into that segment this year, mostly 407s.” Bell’s policy is not to announce overall projected deliveries, but Redenbaugh said this year should yield a 30-percent increase over last year’s deliveries, with the corporate segment up by 50 percent.