The Bell Family

Definitely that first flight, we saw the aircraft, we saw at speed how smooth it was, and I think that's what really stood out to me -- how comfortable it was to actually fly at max forward airspeed. Funny -- when I called you, I said, hey, I'm gonna bring the 429 by; we were looking at a lot of different airframes, and Craig had no reason to stop by. So Christian, come on, you love helicopters -- well, I do love helicopters, I'll fly it. It doesn't just end at the sale itself; it actually really begins when you take delivery of the helicopter -- you and I went to Montreal, Mirabel, and picked up the aircraft, and then flew it back with your father in the back of the helicopter. It was his 70th birthday, that's why we were bringing that helicopter home, and we had a birthday cake for him there at the delivery itself -- that was fun. The sales experience was quite unique -- I guess what I was expecting was the salesman, and what I got was probably one of the most accomplished aviators I've ever met. But then we flew the helicopter all the way across the country, and there was no trying to be a salesman -- you've bought the helicopter, this is when the relationship really begins, and trying to give you the right guidance on how to operate the helicopter, how to make best use of it, as we move along, that just becomes a lifelong friendship and hopefully a resource. Greg is truly a mentor -- not only type-rated in more aircraft than I can remember, dual-rated fixed-wing, he really brought that perspective to not just the purchase experience but the training experience and everything beyond that, and I'm forever grateful to be able to have people like him around. What I've been realizing is Bell's full of people like that -- a lot of really accomplished pilots and aviators and engineers who are a phone call away, and if you have a question or a concern, there always seems to be someone there willing to help. The experience of picking up the aircraft at Mirabel was fantastic, getting to meet the team members that put hands on your craft and built your aircraft, and getting to see the 429 production line was really a special experience in itself -- just the whole delivery experience, how special they make that moment for you: it's an aircraft you're going to be operating for potentially a decade and more, it's a special moment, a brand-new aircraft -- how often does that get to happen? The training experience is really important, because a lot of times when you get into an aircraft of this size, it can be a little intimidating to transition from say a single into a twin, but the Bell Training Academy provided not only an enormous amount of support but the initial program was extremely comprehensive -- I've found that going back every single year for my recurrent leaves me extremely well prepared, and allowed me to gain my ATP through that process, and it not only gives you that recurrent skill that you need but keeps you up to date on what's happening with the aircraft on a worldwide market scale. The other part of it is the Bell Training Academy -- it's a small community that flies the 429, and you make lifelong friends with other operators. The 429 has a really fun owners' group, and the group is very diverse, as the aircraft has a lot of diverse missions from mountain-air rescue in some of the tallest mountains in the world, to Coast Guard operations, to VIP operations, EMS operations -- what it does is create an enormous amount of experience and a great community around the aircraft. There's a bunch of official and unofficial owner groups that can communicate, talk about challenges they may be having, and then solutions they're finding -- it's a really great community. And what I most appreciate is Bell has that anytime-day-or-night, here's-a-number-you-can-call, and someone will pick up and help you -- there's a whole team dedicated to supporting the 429, and it's not just a call-center team, but individual people: engineers, a flight support crew -- there's always somebody there to help out, and that means a lot when you're just a single-ship operator.