Helicopters Tennessee Valley Authority orders four Bell helicopters

The helicopters will be added to the existing fleet of TVA. In total, four aircraft will be delivered to the authority. Two Bell B429 and the first two IFR configured Bell B407GXi aircraft have been ordered by the operator.

Doug Schoen, managing director, North America commented on the order: “We have been proud providers to Tennessee Valley Authority for more than 20 years now and we’re honoured that they continue to choose aircraft to support their mission […] Adding the Bell 407GXi will allow TVA to cost-effectively operate a single-engine IFR aircraft to support their region.”

The Aviation Unit of TVA has been operating since the 1930 and currently uses two Bell 407s, one Bell 429 and a Bell 206L4. Furthermore, two Cessna Citation XLS+ are flying operations.

David Hill, TVA general manager Aviation Services said: “Helicopters are an investment that help us to improve safety and overall operational efficiency with minimal impact to the environment [...] As the nation’s largest public power provider, with over 16,000 miles of transmission lines, helicopters help us to deliver low-cost, cleaner energy with 99.999 percent reliability to nearly 10 million people in the Tennessee Valley.”

In August 2019, bell announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had issued an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the Bell 407GXi. The helicopter offers the lowest direct operations costs of all IFR-capable helicopters.

TVA is a corporate agency of the United States. For business customers and local power companies, it provides electricity. In total, the authority serves 10 million people in parts of seven south-eastern states.

Bell explained in a statement: "TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation."