By me All photos me too, copyrighted Even though I’ve been a fixed wing driver from Day One (private and training helicopters being so rare in Croatia), I’ve nevertheless always maintained a fancy for all things rotary. Indeed, my first ever flight – back when I was just a toddler – had been on a …
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- Getting ready for the day’s practice run with a lick of paint and a thorough wash. Despite the performance penalties of the extra weight, MPB would fly its routine in full crop spraying kit…
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- Not your usual view! Despite its unwieldy look and apparent bulk, from the top it is obvious that the Ka-26 is actually quite compact, sporting the minimum amount of structure necessary to bring together the engines, cabin, rotor system and payload module. There blades themselves are actually composite and very light, and feature substantial leading edge protection at their tips – all of which gives them a solid 5000 hour service life, even in the rough-and-tough going at low altitude
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- The party piece of (almost) every Kamov design: the counter-rotating coaxial main rotor. Though mechanically more complex than the conventional arrangement, this setup allows for greatly increased efficiency, since the blade area – which produces the lift – is now doubled, and there are no mechanical and friction losses inherent to the tail rotor and its transmission system (which also does wonders during autorotation). Another benefit – epitomized most of all by the Ka-50/52 gunships – is a very high degree of maneuverability in all axes, as well as a much more neutral mass distribution that does wonders for hover characteristics, general handling and overall agility
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- Arretir! Drawing heavily upon Kamov’s naval experience, the Ka-26 could be equipped with a full IFR panel and some pretty sophisticated kit for its class – stuff that didn’t always sit well with operators, since it tended to add complexity and increased maintenance costs. Many examples (especially those used at very low altitude) would be stripped down in actual operations; MPB however had retained most of its factory setup, minus the blind flying gear
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- Having spent the majority of its life in Hungary, MPB sports a typically curious mix of Russian and Hungarian dials, which do add a lot of charm to the cockpit…
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- Being one of the very few (maybe even only) production light helicopter with TWO piston engines, the Ka-26 does sport a lot of powerplant-related switches and knobs – so much so that it seems you need three arms to successfully start it first time out…
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- More traces of the Ka-26’s Soviet design heritage: the single primer pump in the middle (which is turned into the direction of the desired engine before being actuated), and the air system valve w/ pressure gauge, which provides the juice for the main wheel brakes (a common solution on Soviet aircraft to avoid the weight penalties and poor cold weather performance of conventional hydraulics)
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- Another icon of Soviet general aviation: the venerable and dependable M-14 nine cylinder radial, here in its V-26 version developing 325 HP. To tackle the unique aspects of helicopter flight – high RPM, high throttle and low (or no!) airspeed, the installation on the Ka-26 features cooling fans visible behind the fully opened cowl flaps, which force air over the cylinders to keep them sufficiently cool regardless of flight regime. They also make a LOT of noise!
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- Two big Soviet radials, two huge coaxial rotors, a traditional cockpit fan – and a semi-aerobatic duet with a Vietnam-era Hiller OH-23… yep, didn’t mind the four hour drive one way!
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- One a pristine vintage aircraft – the other a no-nonsense everyday working machine… one sporting a Lycoming and conventional setup, the other twin radials with fully flexible coaxial rotors… and both in the air at the same time, facing off. I know I’ve had more fun in an aircraft… but can’t quite remember when!
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- In addition to their distinctive main spray bars, many Ka-26s feature a secondary unit slung from the horizontal stabilizer. Specs I found online indicate that with all three in operation, the average 26 could dispense up to 12 liters of fluid per minute (though dispersion system upgrades in 1978 and 1979 would improve on that by a couple of liters/minute)
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- In the crop dusting configuration, the hopper can accommodate up to 900 kg of fluid. A neat trick is that it’s actually part of a removable payload module that can be easily taken out in the field, and replaced with the minimum of specialized tools by a selection of other factory-made modules (passenger, ambulance, freight platform, sling hook, …)
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- Getting ready for a thorough wash following its display. Manufactured in 1959 with the serial 1145, it would serve first with the US Army as 58-5496, before going into civilian waters as N67664 and N16MQ. It would arrive into Hungary in 1997 (being one of a handful of UH-12s bought during the 90s), and eventually end up in the hands of Fly-Coop, one of Budapest’s largest aircraft operators. Note also the exposed tail rotor transmission running atop the tail boom
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- Though the type normally sports the six cylinder Lycoming VO-435 developing 265 HP, this particular machine had at one point been retrofitted with the more powerful Lycoming VO-540, developing a chunky 305 HP (it showed during the display!). Of note is the engine V prefix, which stands for “vertical” – denoting the modifications for the only possible way of installing it into a light helicopter
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- A panel that can easily provoke traumas in anyone who had flown a 1960s Cessna – no rhyme or reason in the layout, and made by someone who studied economics, not ergonomics. That notwithstanding, surely a cool place to sit!
