CHENNAI: It takes less than 20 minutes to fly from Sulur to Wellington by helicopter and the Mi-17V-5 is considered the one of the safest craft to fly. Mi-17V-5s are regularly used by VVIPs including the President and Prime Minister, who used the chopper to travel from the airport during a recent visit to Chennai.
Produced by Kazan Helicopters, a subsidiary of Russian Helicopters, Mi-17V-5 has hardly had one or two emergencies, requiring immediate landing. “Such emergencies could pertain to Tail Rotor failure or both engines failing due to fire. This rarely happens. In the last 30-40 years there may have been only one or two such cases,” says a former air force personnel with extensive flying experience.
