The Mi-26 is a twin-engine, multi-purpose, heavy transport helicopter developed by the Soviet Union's Miri Design Bureau (now renamed Miri Moscow Helicopter Plant JSC), and is nicknamed the "Halo" (Halo) by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This helicopter is a heavy transport helicopter developed after the Mi-6 and Mi-10, and is the heaviest helicopter in the world today.
The Mi-26's two engines have a very high fuel consumption of 2.5 tons per hour, or about 3,000 liters. The fuel consumption is huge, and its power is also very huge, equivalent to the combined horsepower of 50 Ferrari sports cars. Along with the huge fuel consumption, "Mi-26" flight costs are naturally very high. In China's Wenchuan earthquake, there are two "Mi-26" helicopters to participate in the post-earthquake rescue, its core task is to transfer large-scale machinery and equipment to the rescue operation area. According to the implementation of the equipment lifting task "Mi-26" Chinese pilots, from Beichuan drum town lifting excavators and other equipment to the weir operation area, the flight distance of 5 kilometers, a round trip takes about 25 minutes, according to the calculation of 7,000 yuan per ton of fuel at that time, lifting an excavator as a round trip, all the costs totaled about 30,000 yuan. All costs totaled about 30,000 yuan. According to China's Yunnan TV network, in early 2010, the Mi-26 was called by the State Forestry Administration of China to carry out firefighting missions in the Cangshan Mountains of Dali, Yunnan Province, with 2.3 tons of fuel only enough to maintain its flight for one hour, and the total cost of each hour of flight in firefighting operations at that time amounted to CNY130,000, which was called the "oil tiger". The "oil tiger".
China's Flying Dragon Professional Airlines, a subsidiary of Harbin Aircraft Industry (Group) Co. Ltd, formally purchased the Mi-26 helicopters, which were previously leased from Russia and made notable contributions to the Wenchuan earthquake rescue effort, at the end of 2008. So far, China will have two of the world's largest helicopters. 2007, Hafei Group's Flying Dragon introduced the Mi-26 for the first time in China in the form of leasing. after entering Flying Dragon's "service", the Mi-26 has made many achievements in forest fire prevention, disaster relief, especially in the Wenchuan earthquake after the earthquake. In particular, after the Wenchuan earthquake, the Mi-26 performed outstandingly in earthquake relief flights such as Tangjiashan Lake Relief, and the captain of the Mi-26, Qi Huanqing, was honored with the title of "National Model of Earthquake Relief". Due to the excellent performance of the aircraft, Flying Dragon decided to convert the Mi-26 in use from leasing to purchasing. Recently, the Chinese and Russian sides carried out the handover of property rights, while another domestic helicopter company also signed an agreement with the Russian side to purchase a Mi-26 helicopter. At 11:05 a.m. on May 26, 2008, a red Mi-26 helicopter lifted a heavy excavator weighing about 13.2 tons to the Tangjiashan weir. At about 15:50 on May 25, 2008, an Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter, which is a Russian helicopter supporting China's Sichuan rescue and relief efforts, flew to Sichuan Deyang City's Guanghan Airport, where it will carry out the task of lifting large-scale machinery and equipment, and transferring 230 people affected by the Tangjiashan weir lake to a safe place in only two flights. On May 29, 2008, the rescue of Tangjiashan Weir, the most dangerous weir formed after the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, achieved a stage victory. Before the arrival of the main flood season of the Minjiang River, it will make a great contribution to ensure the safety of the land of Tianfu. At the same time, it also highlights the lack of large helicopters in the country. June 10, 2009 at 6:06 pm, with a huge roar and dust flying around, Mi-26 in the crowd's expectations landed steadily in Nanchuan District, Shuijiang Town, a temporary airport on the "ten" frame. This indicates that excavators and other heavy equipment will be able to quickly enter the Wulong rescue site, thus greatly accelerating the progress of rescue and relief. June 11, 2009, Chongqing Wulong rescue work has entered the seventh day. At 9:56 a.m., the Mi-26 helicopter successfully lifted the excavator to the Wulong mountain collapse rescue and relief site. Earlier, the Mi-26 helicopter transported a blower to the collapse site, which was also a test flight for the transfer of larger excavators and other equipment. The Mi-26 helicopter was also awarded the title of "National Model of Earthquake Relief". Due to the excellent performance of the aircraft, Flying Dragon decided to convert the Mi-26 in use from leasing to purchasing. Recently, the Chinese and Russian sides carried out the handover of property rights, while another domestic helicopter company also signed an agreement with the Russian side to purchase a Mi-26 helicopter. In September 2011, China Helicopter Design Institute model deputy chief designer, AC311 helicopter chief designer Li Jiayun helicopter exhibition, said China's national helicopter spectrum has been relatively sound, but in the heavy helicopters (takeoff weight up to 20 tons) is still blank. The reporter asked the Russian media about "China and Russia may be based on the Mi-26 heavy helicopter cooperation in the development of new heavy helicopters" rumors are true, Li said the chief engineer, this is not simply for the Mi-26 cooperation, China has its own ideas and plans, at present, hope that the development of China's heavy helicopters models Positioned in the 30-ton level, and the maximum take-off weight of 56 tons of Mi-26 heavy helicopters, China has purchased two, in the earthquake relief, the public is familiar with the Flying Dragon company Mi-26 played a unique and critical role, but in general, the use of this tonnage Mi-26 will not be too extensive, the development of 30-ton heavy helicopters are more suitable for China's national conditions.