July, 2006

Its not everyday that you're offered the chance to visit with one of the largest helicopters in the world, but thanks to a need to transport heavy loads in the Alberta oil fields, club President Daryl Medd had just such an encounter.

Originally designed for the Soviet military in the late 1970s, the Mil26 is the world's largest regularily operated helicopter. It weighs more than a Fokker F100 airliner and more than twice as much as the American Chinook. The fuselage has an internal cargo capacity greater than an L-100 Hercules. Most of the 70-some Mi26s built were delivered to military customers, but this one is in Canada working on behalf of Apache Canada.

Daryl's company, Rangeland Truck & Crane Ltd., was hired to haul a 12,000 pound natural gas compressor to Hamburg, AB., west of Manning, near the BC border. The helicopter was involved because environmental concerns prevented the construction of a road through watershed area to an otherwise inaccessable location.

Once the compressor had been delivered, Daryl assisted in rigging the suspended load, and was invited to ride along. "What was surprising was how spartan the cockpit was, with the exception of the two Garmen GPS in the navigator's stations," said Daryl. He also noted that the sound inside was so low that he didn't need the headset he'd been offered. The all Russian crew was proud of their beheamoth, which seemed very well put together. Daryl noted that the tail rotor's drive shaft was visible in the rear of the cargo cabin.

Daryl Medd

Airborne

Start up

Group shot

Rotors turning