Mil, Mi-2 Bord211, gets a Garmin

In the old days, a pilot could land in a farmer's field and ask directions. At the Cold War Air Museum, our pilots would prefer not to have to do that. So they asked for something in the Mi-2 to tell them where they were, and where they might be headed.

Since their portable GPS kept slipping off the top of the instrument panel (and its hard to get a hand free to chase anything loose in a helicopter), we decided to secure a GPS in the panel.

The Mi-2 panel seems big, but from a human factors standpoint it has some drawbacks. Because of the seating arrangement, it is difficult for the co-pilot to reach the left side of the panel and the pilots knees can get in the way (contrary to U.S. helicopters, the pilot sits on the left). And, as might be expected, there is always a heated discussion regarding anything being moved or eliminated. In this picture, the old radio control head that will be removed is in the lower right corner.

With a bit of "adjustment" to both the opening in the panel and an AirGizmos panel mount, a Garmin GPS now snaps in place. A cover hides the empty mount (or the GPS) when desired.

As soon as the antenna and power wiring are completed, our guys will now be able to tell us where they're going (and perhaps where they've been). ;-)

To keep an authentic appearance while on static display, a decal or picture of the old radio may be placed over the blank cover. 

A little radio goes a long way

A lot of pilots equate size with performance.
The Soviet era radios in the back of the Mi-2 are plenty big (and heavy), but they don't give us the performance or full range of channels we need to communicate in US airspace. Although the Mi-2 is big by most standards, the range of options for easily putting radios within useful reach of the pilot is frustratingly limited. Fortunately we came across a very small but powerful radio that we are evaluating for the Mi-2 at the Cold War Air Museum.

The MGL Avionics, V10 mounts in a standard 3 1/8" instrument cutout and takes up only about 2 inches of depth behind the panel. The entire radio, not just the control head, is shown in the picture above. With modern technology, this small box should equal the range and performance of older boxes many times its size.

The radio essentially "dropped-in" to the panel in place of the inop radar altimeter directly in front of the pilot's station.

The radio specs are very promising and hangar tests of the radio and its built-in intercom showed good performance. This weekend we hope to get a chance to do an in-flight evaluation of the unit (and its built-in intercom) in a real-life, noisy, operating environment. Radio troubles are often caused by poor installation of the radio or antenna, so we will be paying special attention to identifying and correcting any problems in those areas as well. Tune in later for updates.

Who Broke My Helicopter?

At the Cold War Air Museum, some of our associates like to fly aircraft, some of our associates like to fix them, some of our associates like to talk about them and some do all three.

Summer in Texas brings daytime temperatures around 40C (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit). A recent mild "cold" front passed through and the temperature "only" reached about 34C (around 93F). Although our aircraft are in hangars and out of the direct sun, working on them in the heat is still uncomfortable. With the realization that there will probably not be any cooler days left this summer, we jumped in to do some avionics work in the Mi-2.

We are fortunate to have translated factory manuals, but even so, it can be challenging to read schematics and technical documents originated in a different language with different drawing conventions. Previous experience and perseverance helps. While the main DC buses are below the instrument panel, the breaker panels they feed are in the overhead with power running from there to the soviet style avionics boxes located in a compartment at the rear. Our more modern equipment will be up front, so some wiring has to be changed. The wires dangling in this picture will assist in adding modern radios to the panel while maintaining as much of the original look and feel of the aircraft as possible.

Of course the day would not be complete if someone didn't want to fly the aircraft when the radio guy left some panel open. Fortunately crew chief Phil knows the drill and helps to co-ordinate the program, buttoning things up and checking things as necessary. The normal shop schedule is to work around flying events and to leave each aircraft in flying status as much as possible. At the end of this day, Bord 211 was back in flight status with power going to a new radio box.