Bell Helicopter will have manufactured 33 of its new 429 light twins, sold most of them and completed certification of customer option kits for the aircraft by year-end. That is the word from Larry Roberts, Bell senior vice president of commercial business, who said the company is "bullish" on its global marketing efforts, continuing to pursue a dual-pronged attack to reduce the weight of the 429 and proceeding with plans to develop a version of the rotorcraft with wheeled landing gear.
Roberts said Bell is trying to get weight out of the 429 "in the manufacturing process" and looking at the feasibility of "performance and weight gain through regulatory bodies." He said most of the kits should be certified by the end of the month, adding that delays in the process were exacerbated by a "supplier environment" adversely impacted by the economy that "caused us to slip a little bit on the kits."
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