| Ka-26 | |
| Border: | yes |
| Type: | Light utility |
| First Flight: | 18 August 1965 |
| Introduction: | 1969 |
| Status: | Active; out of production |
| Produced: | 1968–1985 |
| Number Built: | 816 |
| Developed Into: | Kamov Ka-126 Kamov Ka-226 |
The Kamov Ka-26 (NATO reporting name Hoodlum) is a Soviet light utility helicopter with co-axial rotors.
The Ka-26 entered production in 1969 and 816 were built. A variant with a single turboshaft engine is the Ka-126. A twin-turboshaft–powered version is the Ka-226. (All the Ka-26/126/128/226 variants are code-named by NATO as "Hoodlum").
The fuselage of the Ka-26 consists of a fixed, bubble-shaped cockpit containing the pilot and co-pilot, plus a removable, variable box available in medevac, passenger-carrying and crop duster versions. The helicopter can fly with or without the box attached for flexibility.
It is powered by two 325 hp (239 kW) Vedeneyev M-14V-26 radial engines mounted in outboard nacelles.
The Ka-26 is small enough to land on a large truck bed. The reciprocating engines are more responsive than turboshaft engines, but require more maintenance. It runs mostly at 95% power in crop dusting with usually excess payload, leaving little reserve power for emergencies. Due to frequent overloads, the interconnect shaft joining the two engines is prone to breakage and requires frequent inspection.
The standard instrumentation of the Ka-26, like larger naval Kamovs, may be overkill for civilian or crop dusting use. The 18-dials cockpit panel masks a part of the right-downwards view, needed to avoid telephone and power lines at low altitudes. The instrument panel may be simplified to retain the six main dials. As there is a low rotor clearance at the aircraft front, it is approached from the rear when the rotors are turning.
Due to the limitations of the Ka-26, USSR and Romania agreed under the Comecon trade to build a single-turboshaft engine version, the Kamov Ka-126, with better aerodynamics and range.
The Ka-26 is eminently useful for civil agricultural use, especially crop dusting. The coaxial main rotor configuration, which makes the Ka-26 small and agile, also results in a delicate airflow pattern under the helicopter, providing a thorough, yet mild distribution of chemicals onto plants. The Ka-26 is often used to spray grape farms in Hungary, where conventional "main rotor and tail rotor" layout helicopters would damage or up-root the vine-stocks with their powerful airflow. Hungarian Kamov operators claim that coaxial rotors of the Ka-26 creates an airflow which allows well-atomized pesticides to linger longer in the air, causing more of the residue to settle underneath, rather than on top of, the leaves. This results in a more efficient distribution of pesticides, as most pests and parasites do not live on the top side of foliage. Additionally, the coaxial vortex system is symmetrical, allowing the distribution of the pesticide to be more uniform, without the side currents induced by the tail rotor, making it easier to avoid contaminating adjacent non-crop areas.
In some Warsaw Pact armies, the Ka-26 was used only in the light paratroop or airborne role, but not the civilian agricultural role. In the military role, ts slow (150 km/h) cruise speed compared with the Mi-2 (220 km/h) limits effective general-purpose military use, although its shorter length (7.75 m) compared with the Mil Mi-2 (11.9 m) and smaller rotor diameter (13 m vs. 14.6 m) are advantageous for military operations in an urban area. Its operational range is also greater than the Mil-2.
On 30 June 2020, Moldovan police and prosecutors closed down an illegal factory producing unlicensed copies of the Ka-26. The factory had a production line with ten air frames in various stages of completion that were intended for sale to clients in former Soviet countries.[1] [2]
Mongolia
Lithuania
Hungary
Sri Lanka