New wildfire patrol helicopter for Russian Region

New Mil Mi-8MTV-1 of Altai’s Avialesookhrana

Оn April 27, the aerial forest protection service (Avialesookhrana) of Russia’s Altai Republic, based at Gorno-Altaysk airport, took delivery of a new Mil Mi-8MTV-1 helicopter built at Kazan Helicopters. The aircraft will be used in forest patrols, emergency relief operations, flood monitoring, and other roles.

The helicopter was taken from Sberbank Leasing under an eight-year financial lease agreement signed in May 2015. The lessor has announced that the deal costs 438 million rubles ($6.7 million at the current exchange rate).

The Altay Avialesookhrana service currently flies Mi-8T/MTV and Robinson R44 helicopters from three locations across the region.

According to Show Observer’s sources, the Russian Mi-8MTV fleet presently stands at 241 aircraft, including 161 operated by commercial companies.