Mi-8MSB awaiting Russian certification

Ukrainian engine house Motor Sich is presenting at MAKS 2013 a re-engining solution for the world’s most ubiquitous helicopter, the Mil Mi-8T heavy transport rotorcraft. The company replaces the type’s original underpowered TV2-117 engines with a pair of TV3-117VMA-SBM1V Series 4E powerplants to produce the Mi-8MSB modification.

"We have not designed an all-new helicopter, although that might be an option for the future," says Motor Sich CEO Vyacheslav Boguslayev. "We are offering to do what we are really good at, i.e. re-engining. Our aim is to support [helicopter operations in Russia’s] Far East and northern regions and also [in] Africa. The high annual number of hull losses is down to the obsolescence of the helicopter fleet."

The Mi-8MSB first flew on November 10, 2010. In 2011, the Aviation Register of the CIS-wide Interstate Aviation Committee issued a supplementary type certificate for the air-started TV3-117VMA-SBM1V 4 engine and for the electronically-started 4E modification. The powerplant completed flight development tests in 2012. Russia has not validated the Mi-8MSB supplementary certificate issued by the Ukrainian aviation authority, because the new AP-21 rules do not provide for mutual recognition of supplementary certificates within the CIS.