The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has signed a purchase agreement for two Bell 505s with Bell Textron. The helicopters will aid in multi-mission law enforcement operations for FWC's Division of Law Enforcement.

Headquartered in Tallahassee and established in 1999, the FWC manages fish and wildlife resources for their long term well-being and the benefit of people. Its Division of Law Enforcement is responsible for patrol and investigative law enforcement services over more than 8,400 miles of coastline, 13,200 square miles of offshore waters and more than 34 million acres of land.

“The Bell 505 is a proven platform for public safety agencies around the world,” says Bell managing director, North America Lane Evans. “The Bell 505 advances an agency's ability to readily respond to emergencies on the ground, sky or water. Bell is proud the FWC has selected the Bell 505 as its choice aircraft to advance the vast mission of the agency.”

The Bell 505 combines the latest avionics and engine control technology with a large open cabin that provides panoramic views for resource management. A fully integrated Garmin G1000H NXi avionics suite and dual channel FADEC controlled Safran Arrius 2R engine provide pilots of all skill levels with maximised situational awareness and workload reduction to fly successfully in a multitude of scenarios.