Not from the best life: the world's largest Mi-26T helicopter was mothballed after 12 years of storage

In the Arkhangelsk region, the operation of the heavy Mi-26T cargo helicopter has been resumed after a long period of conservation. The rotorcraft was built at the Rostov Helicopter Plant, and it made its first flight on February 18, 1990.

The helicopter was operated in the Arkhangelsk Civil Aviation Department of the USSR, and then in the 2nd Arkhangelsk Joint Aviation Squadron. Since 2013, the Mi-26T has been stored at the Vaskovo airport (Arkhangelsk) due to the exhaustion of the assigned fuselage resource

In 2023, the helicopter was covered by a large-scale modernization. Engineers of the 2nd Arkhangelsk OAO updated gearboxes, fuel tanks, hydraulic system and gearboxes. After two years of work, the machine is ready to fly again, and on April 9, 2025, the Mi-26T took to the sky again after restoring its airworthiness.

The carrying capacity of the Mi-26T is 20 tons, the length of the helicopter is 40 m, the diameter of the main rotor is 32 m, the height is over 11 m. Its cargo cabin can accommodate a tractor, Ural or KamAZ. It is also possible to accommodate more than 80 military personnel with full weapons and equipment.

Earlier www1.ru reported that almost 4 billion rubles will be allocated in Russia for the refinement of the Ansat helicopter.

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