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on the Bell 206L LongRanger
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The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single and twin engined helicopters manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec plant. The type was developed in 1960/61 for the US Army's Light Observation Helicopter programme. Bell was one of 12 manufacturers to enter the competition but was not selected, so it redesigned the airframe and successfully marketed it commercially.
The first model was a 206A JetRanger, and then in 1974 came a stretched variant with seating for seven, the 206L LongRanger. There were an extra two rear-facing seats between the front and rear seats, it had longer rotor blades, an uprated engine and various other improvements. It was first flown on 11 September, 1974 and deliveries commenced October 1975.
Since then, Bell has produced more than 1,700 LongRangers across all variant types. The original 206L used an Allison 250-C20B engine, and a series of model upgrades replaced this with more powerful versions. In 2007, Bell announced an upgrade programme for the 206L-I and 206L-III; modifications include strengthened airframe structural components, including a new tailboom, improved transmission and an upgraded engine for the L-I.
Production ended in June 2017.
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| World fleet | Charter fleet | Typical pax | Cabin volume | Cruise | Range | Years | |
| Bell 206L | ●● | ●● | ● | ●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| Bell 206L-1 | ●●● | ●●● | ● | ●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| Bell 206L-3 | ●●● | ●●● | ● | ●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| Bell 206L-4 | ●●● | ●●● | ● | ●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| Bell 206LT | ● | ● | ● | ●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| 02/02/2023 | EASA: 10080191. ●●●●●●●●●●
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| August 28, 2020 | BAC deploys LongRangers to ward off locusts |
| June 30, 2020 | Telesis launches GATR to expand in rotary leasing |
| April 6, 2020 | Onboard prepares Bell 206L and 407 cargo kits |
| February 23, 2020 | Garmin touchscreen navigator upgrade is approved |
| April 2, 2019 | Blade aims to defeat notorious NYC road traffic |
| December 11, 2018 | Canada and Brazil certify LongRanger blades |
| September 10, 2014 | Me & my aircraft: Single engine helicopters – Single helis are adaptable and robust, with twin benefits at lower cost |
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