Multinational Aviabaltika Holdings, which groups companies from
Lithuania, Russia and Mexico to offer a full range of helicopter
engineering, maintenance, technical support and training, has
launched two new business projects for the growing number of customers
for Russian rotary-wing aircraft.
The first, a specialized helicopter training center at St Petersburg,
Russia, is now up and running at the premises of the SPARC JSC
aircraft repair enterprise. This offers full technical facilities,
interactive training aids and a simulator complex for the operation,
maintenance and overhaul of the widely used Mil Mi-8/17 series
of transport and utility helicopters. More than 1,000 students
and 500 crew from Algeria, Colombia, Cuba, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal,
Pakistan, Romania, Slovakia and Sri Lanka have already trained
at the center.
In another Aviabaltika initiative, a full flight simulator developed
from a mathematical flight dynamics model put together
at the Zhukovsky Central Aero Hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI),
has been established for upgraded Mi-8MTV/Mi-17 helicopters. This
has been certificated by Russia's Civil Aviation Authority, and
provides qualification training for such Mi-17 pilots as those
for President Putin, Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbaeyev,
the Russian Federation Ministry of Rescue, Malaysia's Fire and
Rescue Department, and the Ministries of Domestic Affairs in Romania
and Slovakia.
In conjunction with Kazan Helicopters and the Mil Helicopter Plant,
Aviabaltika has also established turn-key service centers for
helicopter and repair at customers' home bases.
