This helicopter was manufactured in 1978 in Kumertau, Russia. It flown in the Hungarian Air Service between 1978-1989, was used for agricultural flights. After 1989 a company from south-eastern Hungary bought it and used for spraying till 2017 when it moved to the other side of the country. It finished operation in 2023. This Ka-26 was the last one who flew in its "original" yellow colour.
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.
The day when we visited the team the helicopter sprayed dryer chemical to sunflower.