The Mi-171A3, the first Russian specialized helicopter for servicing offshore drilling platforms, made its first flight and, concurrently, a new stage in the development of the Mi-8 / Mi-17 family. More details - in the author's column of the military observer, expert of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) Alexander Ermakov, especially for Gazeta.Ru. December 16 for the first time took to the air and performed a 15-minute test flight of the Mi-171A3. According to the press release, the crew, consisting of senior test pilot Alexander Klimov and test pilot Vladimir Kutanin, performed a series of short vertical maneuvers, as well as turns and movement of the helicopter in all directions at various speeds.

This is not just another helicopter in the Mi-8 / Mi-17 family (there are quite a few of them, to put it mildly, it is easy to get confused in their indices), but a milestone for the development of the family and the Russian helicopter industry. For the first time, an offshore helicopter has been created that meets international standards. Offshore vehicles are those designed for long-distance flights over the sea, primarily for servicing offshore drilling platforms.

This is the first Russian helicopter, which was created for the development of the Arctic shelf by oilmen, where the work imposes high demands on flight safety and rescue systems.

In this case, this is not a figure of speech - there is the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), which develops common standards of work, including in the field of security, including with regard to offshore helicopters.

Without meeting these standards, it will be more difficult with insurance, and in a project with international participation (and there are many of them in the north), partners may simply refuse to fly and demand to purchase standardized equipment. For these reasons, our giants of the oil and gas sector are forced to purchase Western equipment - their own did not fit the requirements of the IOGP. This is not surprising, since the requirements are prohibitive, the highest in aviation, and it is impossible to comply with them without laying down for them on purpose.

The direct design of the new modification of the Mi-17 was started by the Russian Helicopters holding in 2018, and in 2020 a contract was signed with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.

According to the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the total volume of state support for the project is 1 billion rubles, plus state corporations of the mining sector will act as the starting customers. In the summer of 2021, the car was first publicly presented at the MAKS air show in Zhukovsky near Moscow and became the main novelty of the helicopter part of the exhibition.

Let's get back to the IOGP standards in more detail. Here are just some of the requirements and modifications that had to be made to the design, creating the helicopter almost from scratch:

- resistance to hard landings with overloads of at least 20g (almost twice as much as usual).

It was necessary to redesign the fuselage to ensure the preservation of living space during such an impact, to install special shock-absorbing seats (the principle is similar to those installed in modern mine-protected armored vehicles), to move the fuel system from the fairings from the chassis to the floor under the fuselage, the design was borrowed from the Mi-38 (on At first glance, it may not seem obvious, but this is the safest placement of fuel, on ordinary Mi-8 / 17s, when the landing gear struck, they could pierce the tank and cause a fire), all luggage is placed in a separate compartment behind the wall;

- readiness for emergency landing on water.

Installed automatically inflated ballonets, which ensure long-term retention of the machine on the water at sea waves up to 5 points. There are inflatable rafts on both sides, each of which can accommodate more than the maximum capacity of the helicopter (27 people each, the helicopter can carry up to 24 passengers and two crew members);

- each large rectangular porthole can serve as an emergency exit for an adult male in a life suit - a total of 16 emergency exits (according to IOGP standards, you must have at least one for two).

- means to prevent getting into an accident.

New modifications of the VK-2500PS-03 engines have been installed with digital control (and this is a self-diagnosis - part of the requirements) and an emergency mode of operation - IOGP requires that on one engine out of two the helicopter can continue to climb and long horizontal flight. New cockpit equipment providing piloting in adverse weather conditions, four-axis autopilot with approach automation.

Introducing such drastic changes in the design, the authors decided not to limit themselves to them and to modernize the Mi-17 in other areas as well. The main and tail rotors were replaced (new composite blades, tail - X-shaped), the nose was completely redesigned - improved aerodynamics and visibility from the cockpit.

Thanks to these measures, flight characteristics were improved: the maximum / cruising speed reached 280/250 km / h, the range with a load of 2 tons reached 820 km.In the long term, these decisions are likely to be transferred to the new generation of "conventional" Mi-17s, thus the Mi-171A3 becomes the pioneer of a new stage in the development of the family.

The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board of Gazeta.Ru.

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