I visited Kazan Helicopters plant in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia last week.
These guys manufactured in the past over 11,000 Mi-8's and other transport
helicopters for Warsaw Pact armies.  Now, they are developing and
manufacturing new helo designs for mostly civilian applications.  It was
interesting to say the least.  Sorry I cannot show pictures, security was
still soviet-style...

There has been a thread on this newsletter, a few months back, about the
Russian-made rotary engines.  Well, the news is that the manufacturer,
Avtovaz, has dropped the program entirely, both for automotive as well as
for aviation applications.  I was privileged to see one VAZ-4265 3-rotor
270HP engine installed in the new Kazan light-helicopter development, the
Aktai (see www.kazanhelicopters.com/eng/helicopters/aktai).  Interesting...
(sorry again I cannot share pictures and must restrain myself on comments).

Hopefully, the Aktai should fly next summer with a H- version of Mistral's
G-300!  ;-)

Francois   http://www.mistral-engines.com/


That is spectacular news. The Russians are no dummies.
They know a good thing when they see it.
That should break the helicopter engine market wide open.
Huge improvement in the payload to range
ratio not to mention much lower cost than a turbine.
Perhaps Frank Robinson will wake up.

The link above did not work but these work.

http://www.exportbureau.com/transport/helicopters.html
http://www.airshow.ru/expo/614/index.htm
http://www.airshow.ru/expo/614/prod_474.htm

This is just the tip of the iceberg. A turbo would greatly
improve the specs. Particularly the altitude performance.
Not mention an all aluminum rotary or a four rotor.

Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

Paul, the spec you found on the web for the Aktai helicopter is outdated.
Kazan has significantly improved it, in particular in speed and range.
Also, the Aktai is a 3-place helicopter (with a possible jump-seat for a
fourth person).  It can also take a pilot, a medic and a stretcher (inside
the cabin) for medevac missions. I sent you in attachment their latest
leaflet.  The performances it mentions are for the discontinued VAZ engine.
The Mistral engine should yield 20-30HP more.

The craft is very much mission-capable.  It is built military style...
tough!  For example, it has electrical rotor-blade deicing... requiring 10kW
of electric power!  I never heard of that on a light helicopter, but the
Kazan engineers you need that to fly in Russian winter conditions.  Of
course, its empty weight is a bit high.

BTW, there are dozens of new light aircraft projects going on in Russia.
After all, they have literally thousands of experienced aerospace engineers
that now have many fewer military aircraft to design and build.  These guys
also believe that the Russian GA market will explode 4-5 years from now.
They are all looking for reliable, FAA-certifiable (so they can also export)
engines that don't need 100LL (there is practically none in Russia).  Some
of the projects we were contacted for are a bit unrealistic or at least odd
from a Westerner view.  But some others are most interesting and could
potentially sell well in the West.

Francois

I was unable to load that tif file you sent Francois with four or five
graphic programs on both Linux and Windows.
Can you send it in another form? Perhaps a jpg.