You're reading: Ukrainian Angel: Testing to begin on versatile, inexpensive Ukrainian helicopter

Aviampeks has unveiled the first helicopter built in Ukraine: a small, versatile and relatively inexpensive model dubbed Angel.

Mykhailo Kuchin believes in Angels.He says the day may not be off when Angels  far will rescue injured motorists, protect Ukraine’s crops and guard remote stretches of oil pipelines.

Kuchin’s vision came closer to reality this month when his company, Aviampeks, unveiled the first helicopter built in Ukraine: a small, versatile and relatively inexpensive model dubbed Angel.

After undergoing safety and airworthiness tests and receiving its certification, Aviampeks expects to put its new chopper into production next year, sending as many as 100 of the helicopters aloft by the end of 2003.

Ukraine is sorely in need of new helicopters to replace the aging fleet of military aircraft it inherited from the Soviet Union.

Relatively few of the old helicopters remain airworthy.

“Today, Ukraine has about one‑tenth the operable helicopters it had 10 years ago,” said Kuchin, Aviampeks’ production director.

As no rotary‑wing aircraft were produced in Ukraine during the Soviet era, the country has had to purchase parts for its fleet from Russia or salvage parts from other aircraft.

Industry sources said that Ukraine’s existing helicopters are obsolete and need to be upgraded or replaced altogether.

In addition to high operating and maintenance costs have kept many of the country’s remaining choppers grounded, a situation that leaves pilots with only a fraction of the flight time they say they need to maintain their proficiency.

These factors may give an edge to Aviampeks’ Angel. At $120,000 a copy, Angel is expected to be the economical alternative to repairing older aircraft. A version of the helicopter made for export will cost $150,000. The new helicopter’s operating cost is also expected to be moderate, at about $70 per hour.

Kuchin said that the Angel has been in the works for about four years, and at least 16 different firms have been involved with production.

The first Angels will be assembled at Kyiv’s Aviant aviation factory.

Kuchin said the Angel should earn its wings – a government airworthiness certificate – this year, with full production expected to be underway by January 2003.

Kuchin said that although the government will likely purchase the first 100 helicopters off the assembly line, the versatile aircraft should appeal to other buyers as well.

Training helicopter pilots requires up to 300 hours of flight time – a rare commodity in the country’s old Soviet‑built fleet. The new helicopters should reduce the investment the government makes in pilot training, Kuchin said.

He also sees the helicopter as an inexpensive way for pilots to get aloft and maintain their skills. Because of  equipment shortages, high costs and tight budgets, Ukrainian pilots have been logging less than an hour of annual flight time. Now they can get closer to the 100 hours a year they say they need.

Kuchin said the Defense Ministry, which has expressed an interest in the helicopter, has an immediate need for 180 of the aircraft – that alone is more than a year’s estimated production.

He also says police and fire services are interested in the Angel, and that Russia could use them to patrol oil pipelines and electric power transmission lines.

The helicopter can be fitted with a stretcher and used for medical evacuations, or with chemical tanks for use as crop dusters, he said.

Helicopters can be more effective than fixed‑wing aircraft for spraying agricultural pesticides or fertilizers, he said, because wake turbulence generated by the helicopter’s spinning rotors helps sprays get better coverage.

Aviampeks’ parent firm, TVT, plans to produce bigger and more powerful helicopters once Angel has been successfully produced.

As in the case of Angel, TVT executives believe the market exists for larger Ukrainian‑made rotary‑wing aircraft.

“Government organizations represent about 60 percent of our potential customer base,” said Serhy Tyurin, head of TVT’s managing board. “the country needs helicopters and it has the money to buy them.”

Turin added that Georgia and the City of Moscow have expressed interest in the new Ukrainian helicopters.