Strana 15
ENSTROM
machine, still with the American registration
N829JK, from Hradec Králové to Pardubice,
so that we could show it off at an aviation day
event the following weekend. Since the first
two helicopters were still American property,
I could not fly it alone. During the flight, at my
request, we tried some maneuvers.
On June 20th, we flew the machines with
military registrations 0474 and 0473 from
Hradec to Pardubice. After flying over VPD
27, I hung above Bravo taxiway to slowly fly
the helicopter under the streams from the
water cannon of two fire trucks. The moment
I saw that the firefighters started spraying,
I throttled the helicopter down to fly through
the water spray. It was quite a shock when
I was hit from above by a blow that felt like it
came from Thor's hammer (it really was that
strong!), the helicopter shook madly, sank and
I only prevented a collision with the concrete
below thanks to the lightning-fast lifting of
the team! The fact that I couldn't see outside
at all at that moment, or anything at all, is just
a bare fact of life at the moment. The firefighters
somehow forgot, although I had told them in
the agreement, that they had to aim the water
stream diagonally, to the side. They just let it
go straight at each other, so the tons of water
met right above me and deflected down on top
of me. I managed it with honor, the helicopter
too, but for a while water was still leaking out
of it everywhere... So the first military flight
of the brand new Enstrom might’ve ended with
a collision with a lot of concrete right in front
of many onlookers! A close call….
The next day, the helicopters were officially
put into service at CLV. Minister Karla
Slechtova was also in attendance. Helicopter
0473 was put on static display together with
the just-retired Mi-2 coded 0711, while I was to
do a joint demo flying 0474 with the Mi-2 coded
0718 as the Mi-2 flew off into history leaving
me to do a short display with the Enstrom.
Small American helicopters are (I really don't
know why!) equipped with a key.
I had my first experience with a key
a few years earlier, when I lost my set to my
Robinson 44 overnight at the NATO Days
airshow in Ostrava. You can't get into the
helicopter without a key, and if you do get in,
you can't start it... After some martyrdom,
thanks to my acquaintances in the air force
and bikers from the military police, I managed
to get a replacement key made somewhere in
the city, which, surprisingly, fit another one of
the five Robinsons brought to Ostrava. After
a short delay, we managed to take off on those
INFO Eduard
15
March 2026