True Blue Power Adds Bell 505 as Lithium-ion Customer | Aviation International News

True Blue Power Adds Bell 505 as Lithium-ion Customer

Bell's selection of the True Blue Power TB-17 lithium-ion main-ship battery should help lower operating costs and improve availability.

Mid-Continent’s True Blue battery and standby instruments are type-certified on the Bell 505.

By Matt Thurber • Editor-in-Chief

March 2, 2017

The certification of Bell’s new 505 light single-engine helicopter makes Bell Helicopter the first OEM to receive a type certificate for a new helicopter equipped with True Blue Power’s TB-17 lithium-ion main-ship battery. The Robinson R44 received approval for the TB-17, under a supplemental type certificate (STC) issued last October, and Robinson Helicopter has also announced plans to equip the R66 with a True Blue lithium-ion battery. The R44 was “the first STC granted by the FAA for lithium-ion battery use as a primary electrical power source, including engine start,” according to True Blue Power, a division of Wichita-based Mid-Continent Instrument (Booth 5717). The Mid-Continent Standby Attitude Module backup instrument display is also standard on the Bell 505, providing attitude, altitude, airspeed, slip, vertical trend and heading information.

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