Two people died in the crash of a tourist helicopter in Saint-Raphaël, in the Var this Wednesday, June 26. The aircraft is a Bell 505, an entry-level civil helicopter launched in 2016 by the American manufacturer.
It is a very common model of helicopter which crashed this Wednesday, around 6 p.m. in Saint-Raphaël, resulting in the death of the two people on board.
The aircraft, a Bell 505 Ranger X registered T7-VIT, took off from Cannes Mandelieu airport on Wednesday at around 5:30 p.m. according to data from the Flightradar24 website.
He flew over the sea along the coast towards the west, before heading north at Dramont.
This Thursday morning, the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) confirmed the registration of the helicopter and specified that the office was opening a safety investigation. BEA agents were at the scene of the tragedy this Wednesday evening.
The Bell 505 Ranger X is a fairly common helicopter. The American company that manufactures it has sold more than 500 copies worldwide since its launch in 2016.
It is a single-turbine device, that is to say equipped with a single engine, developing 505 horsepower. It can carry four passengers or 680 kilos of payload and fly up to 232 km/h
This helicopter, positioned at the entry level, is appreciated by flight schools, but also by certain public services.
The armies of Montenegro and Jamaica are equipped with them, as is the Japanese coast guard according to the site avionlegendaires.net.
