Kazan Helicopters has reactivated its Ansat light turbine twin programme following the findings of a preliminary investigation into a fatal accident in July 2006.
Investigation of the crash of an Ansat belonging to South Korea's forestry service, in which the pilot was killed, has found that "external factors" were the cause.
The crash was a setback for the first helicopter designed by Kazan, which has fly-by-wire controls and Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207K engines.
At the time of the accident, Kazan had delivered five Ansats to Korea - four to the forestry service and one to the police - between December 2004 annd July 2005. Kazan had also won orders for one helicopter from Laos and one from Tatarstan, the latter in medical-evacuation configuration.
Another heavily instrumented Ansat had been delivered to Russian company Radar-MMS for use as flying laboratory for testing cruise-missile guidance systems.
Kazan says preliminary findings clear the helicopter and allow sales to restart. Immediate goals are to return existing Ansats to flight and reactivate previously signed contracts with GTK Rossiya for two helicopters, plus additional machines for Tatarstan.
In 20004, the Russian air force selected the customised Ansat-U as the future lightweight training helicopter for army aviation. In January 2008, the service confirmed its plans to buy 30 Ansat-Us.
Source: Flight International
