Kamov Ka-26 test flight at Nyíregyháza airport

We were lucky to catch this bird during test flight at Nyíregyháza airport, right after that she got this beautiful green-white paint. Usually during test flight days, pilots start the helicopter’s engines without the rotor blades first, to see if the engines are running without any problem. If they find everything good, mechanic crew can start the blade installation. First the lower blades, then the upper ones. When the blades are installed, the crew can start the blade tracking. During blade tracking the pilot operates the helicopter in ground idle, then flight idle while one mechanic is standing in front of the helicopter with a long wooden rod. At the end of the wooden rod strong cardboard attached, with which the mechanic touches the end of the blades. Each blade has its own colour. The paint on the end of the rotor blade leaves a mark on the cardboard indication the mechanic what track the blades are running. Ka-26 is a multi-purpose, light helicopter, invented by N.I. Kamov in the middle of the 1960s. First flight of this type was in August 18, 1965, she was mainly used for training flights, agricultural tasks, passenger transport, cargo transport, pipe inspection and also for traffic controll by the State Automobile Inspectorate (GAI). This type has two Vedeneyev M14-V-26 petrol powered, four stroke radial engines with 9 cyl. and 325 hp each. Due to the relatively low airspeed of the helicopter, to maintain the proper cylinder head and oil temperatures the engines were produced with an iron fan, which makes the unique siren sound, and it is often believed that Ka-26 is driven by gas turbines. Thanks to the co-axial main rotor system this type is extremely benign, the vast majority of pilots loves and loved it to fly. Agricultural versions had pressurized cockpit, where the pressure was made by that “nose“ on the front of the canopy, which is called separator. This thing pumped outside air through a carbon filter into the pilots cabin providing clean air.