HA-MRN, Kamov Ka-26 – Stubborn helicopter

Published on Dec 23, 2018

Cold start of a ‘stubborn’ helicopter.

In 2010, this helicopter stood inoperable for about one month due to the failure of the crankshafts bearing in the right engine. The engine had been overhauled and replaced, then the startup came.

After one month, too much oil moved down to the lower cylinders in the left engine, we had to deflate more liters of it. The spark plugs went a bit dirty so she didn’t want to start at all. After the fight it ran smoothly and flew back to the homebase without any problem.

Romeo-November (previously registrated as 506 in the fleet of the Hungarian People’s Army), started her career in 1970, and flew as courier helicopter until 1984. After that year Hungarian Air Service used her for agricultural tasks. In 1990, a private company bought her and started to operate her around Tolna county, based in Őcsény airfield.

In 2011 she got a special paint scheme, a shark mouth under the front windshield.
(Find a pic here: http://www.airliners.net/photo/Kamov-…)

After 45 years of active work, we farewelled her at 2015. She attended a formation flight with another Ka-26, HA-HSF.

Now she is in a helicopter museum in Jingdezhen, in the northeastern Jiangxi province of China. (http://www.jiangxihelicoptermuseum.com/)