Helicopters are not very common in Hungary. I mean the Air Force, the police and the emergency rescue squads have got quite a few, but private copters are very rare. As for types: Mi (Mil) used to be one of the leading helicopter producers of the Sovietunion and the world, and that reflected in the types of helicopters used in Hungary. Only one type of Kamov (the Ka-26) was introduced in the Air Force and agricultural aviation - the rest were all Mi's! The army first used the Mi-4 which was a design with serious flaws, then the Mi-1 which was rather good. After that helicopters got around: the police used Mi-1's and later Mi-2's, just like the Emergency Rescue Service. The army got to love copters and bought Mi-2's, -8's, -17's, -24's (the famous "Hind" gunship) and Kamov Ka-26's (for guarding and observing operations). Unfortunately the models used outside the Air Force were very "thirsty" and therefore expensive to use on heavy duty, so in 1987 the unexpected happened: Hungary bought (Hughes and then McDonnell-Douglas) MD-500's: first the Hungarian Air Service bought four, then later the police bought another bunch of them.
Mil Mi-2
Kamov Ka-26
Robinson R22
Robinson R44
Aerospatiale
"Gazelle"
Aerospatiale
AS-50 "Ecureil"
Various
other...
The Mi-2 is a workhorse, used by the police, SAR services, Air Force, etc. It was designed in the Sovietunion, but the ones used in Hungary were manufactured in Poland. The look of the helicopter is dominated by the two large Isotov turbines on top of the cabin - that's why we keep calling it a "chicken leg" :-)
A Mi-2 of the Emergency Rescue Services, photographed at Esztergom.
HA-BCF used for air taxi.
Leg of a chicken: to the left is the bone, to the right the meat :-)
The interior of the cabin that has seats for 6 or 7 passengers.
The same copter with new paintwork.
The cockpit
of the plane
HA-BFY at Budaörs.
HA-BGK used for emergency rescue operations
at Debrecen.
The 1984 HA-BGO used for SAR (Search And Rescue).
The same copter with new paintwork.
The Kamov is an interesting beast: it has rotors in a co-axial configuration rather than the usual main and tail rotor. This type is very manueverable and agile but unfortunately the two axial engines (in the two round things on the sides) are weak. This would be one "helluva helicopter" with two turbine engines instead of the radial motors! Ka-26's were used in the air force and in the agricultural aviation, but the hungarian television also used to have one. The one shown on the picture above is used for spraying pesticide.
HA-MPO at Szeged.
HA-MPZ demoing at Budaörs.
HA-MIZ at Budaörs.
The ultralight four-seater under the copters, photographed at the fuel station at Farkashegy.
HA-FTX at Budaörs.
HA-HEL, also at Budaörs.
HA-HEP, the sister of the previous machine.
HA-MIW: another R-44.
The "brother" of the HA-MIW: HA-MIX.
Both copters have full-body ads for Vodafone.
HA-LFP: the highly interesting "Gazelle"
made in France with a tube prop instead of the normal tail rotor. I'm not
sure, but I think a "Gazelle" was used as the mock-up for the title role
of the movie and TV-series "Blue Thunder"!
HA-BDC at Szentkirályszabadja.
HA-BOA, an MBB Bo-105 over Budaörs airfield.
Another classic: an MD500.
HA-MSV and...
... HA-MSZ are two Hiller "almost-real" copters. I don't think I would want to fly with them, I don't have confidence in their weak-looking structure and the 2-blade rotor :-)
The cabin of HA-MSV.
And some bigger vehicle for the end of the page: a Mi-17 demonstrating aerial fire extinguishing at a Szentkirályszabadja air show.
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