Mil Mi-26: Difference between revisions
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==Specifications (Mi-26)== |
==Specifications (Mi-26)== |
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Revision as of 02:08, 21 February 2009
| Mil Mi-26 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Russian Air Force Mi-26 | |
| Role | Helicopter |
| National origin | Soviet Union Russia |
| Manufacturer | Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant |
| First flight | 14 December 1977 |
| Introduction | 1983 |
| Status | Active |
| Primary users | Russian Air Force Aeroflot, Ukrainian Air Force |
| Produced | 1981 to present |
| Number built | 276 |
| Developed from | Mil Mi-6 |
The Mil Mi-26 (Russian Миль Ми-26, NATO reporting name "Halo") is a Soviet/Russian heavy transport helicopter in service in civilian and military roles. It is the biggest and most powerful helicopter ever to have gone into production.
Design and development
The Mi-26 was designed for military and civil use and intended to be able to lift more than any previous helicopter. The first Mi-26 flew on 14 December 1977, and the first entered service in the Soviet military in 1983.
The Mi-26 was the first helicopter to operate with an eight-blade rotor. It is capable of single-engine flight in the event of loss of power by one engine (depending on aircraft mission weight) because of an engine load sharing system.
While it is only slightly heavier than the Mil Mi-6, it can lift up to 20 tons (tonnes) (40,000 lb) - 8 tons more than Mi-6.
Common unofficial nickname of Mi-26 in Russian military is "Korova" ("Cow").
Operational history
Chernobyl accident 1986
The Mi-26S was a hastily developed version for disaster relief tasks following the Chernobyl nuclear facility accident.[citation needed] It was equipped with deactivating liquid tank and underbelly spraying apparatus. The Mi-26S helicopter was operated in immediate proximity to a nuclear reactor. The filter system and protective screens mounted in the cabin protected the crew during the delivery of construction materials to the most dangerous zone, the zero point of the catastrophe.
World Team 1996
For three weeks in September of 1996, the Russian military loaned four fully crewed Mi-26 helicopters, along with their airbase in Anapa, for the World Team’s attempt to set a new skydiving freefall formation world record. The World Team, led by Hollywood aerial stuntman B. J. Worth, is an international collection of some of the best skydivers from over 40 nations from around the world. The team’s goal in Anapa was to set a new world record 300-Way freefall formation utilizing the high altitude and high capacity of the Mi-26. In order to achieve this record, the World Team needed to get 300 participants plus aerial judges, photographers and cinematographers up to 22,000 feet quickly, and then simultaneously drop them all in to a tight formation. Having never attempted this type of close formation flying before, the Russian pilots and their Mi-26 helicopters performed flawlessly. While the goal of 300 skydivers locked in formation wasn’t achieved during these attempts, the Mi-26 did fly away with a new World Record 297-Way set on September 27, 1996.
Chechen crash and controversy
On 19 August 2002, Chechen separatists hit an Mi-26 with a surface to air missile, causing it to crash-land in a minefield. A total of 127 Russians were killed in the crash.[1]
China's Wenchuan "Quake Lake" Emergency Heavy Lift Operations
As the result of the magnitude 8.0 Sichuan earthquake on 12 May 2008, many rivers became blocked by giant landslides, which resulted in the formation of "quake lakes"; massive amounts of water pooling up at a very high rate behind the landslide-formed dams which will eventually crumble under the weight of the ever increasing water mass,[2] endangering the lives of potentially millions of people if the water is to build up, and then break downstream. The most precarious of these quake-lakes is the one located in the extremely difficult terrain at Tangjiashan mountain, accessible only by foot or air, in which at least one Mi-26 heavy lift helicopter belonging to a branch of China's civil aviation service is used to bring heavy earthmoving tractors to the affected location[3]. This in conjunction with PLAAF Mil Mi-17 helicopters bringing in engineering corps, explosive specialists, and other personnel to join 1,200 soldiers who've already arrived on site by foot. Five tons of fuel to operate the machinery have also been airlifted onto location, where a sluice will be constructed to allow the bleeding off of the bottlenecked water.
Variants
- V-29 - Prototype.
- Mi-26 (NATO - Halo-A) - Military cargo/freight transport version.
- Mi-26A - Upgraded version.
- Mi-26M – Upgraded version of the Mi-26, designed for better performance.
- Mi-26MS - Aeromedicial evacuation version.
- Mi-26NEF-M - Anti-submarine warfare version.
- Mi-26P - Passenger transport version, with accommodation for 63 passengers.
- Mi-26PP - Radio relay version.
- Mi-26PK - Flying crane helicopter.
- Mi-26T - Civil cargo/freight transport version.
- Mi-26TC - Cargo transport version.
- Mi-26TM - Flying crane helicopter.
- Mi-26TP - Fire-fighting version.
- Mi-26TS - Export version of the Mi-26T.
- Mi-26TZ - Fuel tanker version.
Operators
Military Operators
- Belarusian Air Force operates ten aircraft, five more are stored.
- Cambodian Air Force has two aircraft stored.
- Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo received one aircraft.
- Indian Air Force operates four aircraft.
- Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force operates one aircraft.
- Mexican Air Force Received 2 aircraft, one was lost in an accident, the other is still operational though retired.
- Nepalese Army Air Service received two aircraft, one got shot down [citation needed].
- North Korean Air Force operates four aircraft.
- Peruvian Air Force operates one aircraft, two more in storage.
- Peruvian Army
- Russian Air Force operates 25 aircraft.[4]
- Russian Army
- Soviet Air Force passed their aircraft to successor states.
- Soviet Army Aviation
- Ukrainian Air Force operates ten aircraft, eight more are stored.
- Ukrainian Ground Forces
- Venezuelan Air Force operates three aircraft.
Civil operators
- China Flying Dragon Aviation operates two Mi-26T.
- Mi-26T "firebuster" 16 September 2000
- Corpo Forestale dello Stato operates several Mi-26T aircrafts in aerial firefighting role.[5]
Specifications (Mi-26)
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General characteristics
- Crew: Six – 2 pilots, 1 navigator, 1 flight engineer, 1 loadmaster, 1 radio/electronic systems operator
- Capacity:
- Up to 150 troops, 90 recommended
- 20,000 kg cargo (44,000 lbs)
Performance
See also
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
References
- ^ BBC news article, 29 April 2004
- ^ Swollen lake tops China's quake relief agenda, draining, evacuation side by side_English_Xinhua
- ^ Copters take off to large Sichuan "quake lake"
- ^ Mil Mi-26, warfare.ru, Russian Military Analisis. Retrieved on September 8, 2008.
- ^ http://www.corpoforestale.it/aib/servizioAIB/eli_Mi26T.htm Corpo Forestale dello Stato page on the MIL Mi-26T (in Italian)
External links
