File:Bell 206 LongRanger II "Spirit of Texas" (3345068624).jpg

On September 25, 1973, Bell Helicopter announced an improved version of the venerable Jet Ranger. Named the Model 206L-1 Long Ranger II, it introduced Bell’s revolutionary new Noda-Matic suspension system for the transmission and a stretched fuselage 26 inches longer than that on the Jet Ranger. The additional space left room for a third side window, the most recognizable visual feature of the Long Ranger. Bell Helicopter Textron’s Model 206L-1 Long Ranger II, and its older brother Jet Ranger. may be the most familiar helicopters in the western world. To date. over 5,000 Jet Rangers and 900 Long Rangers have been produced, and it seems that the type will stay in production for years to come.

Development of the Model 206 started in the late 1950s, the intended goal being to compete for the U.S Army’s light observation helicopter (LOH) program, carried out in 1961. But the Hughes Helicopters entry, designated OH-6 by the Army and now known as the Hughes 500, won the contest. However, Bell introduced the aircraft, commercially named the Jet Ranger, to the civilian market with excellent results. Military work came for the Jet Ranger in 1968 when the U.S. Navy bought forty aircraft, called TH-57A Sea Rangers, for use as trainers. The Model 206 has since filled several military contracts, the most recent order for more Sea Rangers coming from the Navy.

Simplicity, reliability, and utility characterize the Jet and Long Ranger aircraft. Bells trademark. the two-blade teetering main rotor combined with small, high-output turbine engines, made the Model 206 easy and inexpensive to fly and maintain by both the corporate owner and troops in the field.

The Noda-Matic system in the Long Ranger greatly reduced a shortcoming that was almost traditional in helicopters—vibration. By suspending the transmission at certain points from a metal beam, vibration levels were reduced so that the Long Ranger’s ride compared with that of a fixed-wing turboprop aircraft.