Strana 21
ENSTROM
measures vibration parameters directly in the
air and at all speeds in flight, which had never
been done on the technology used so far.
The En-480 is not really a beauty, from the
side it looks a bit like a squashed banana. They
say that what looks nice also flies nice. In the
case of the Enstrom, it is the complete opposite,
it flies great. Much better than it looks... At first
glance, it is not very pretty, the front has some
fairly graceful shapes, but then - it is as if the
designers ran out of imagination and the tail
and landing gear look a bit like an afterthought
coming from a completely different workshop,
perhaps in a completely different world.
Among our technicians, it has earned the
nickname ‘fruit fly’. Otherwise, the Enstrom is
amazingly controllable, you just have to think
and make a small movement with the control
stick and it will simply do what the pilot wants
it to do. It has no hydraulic boosters, only
electric balancing. In the beginning, however,
it is necessary to be constantly on the alert
with the students, the helicopter is sensitive to
the use of the left leg or the rapid lifting of the
collective - then there is a risk of exceeding
the torque (torque on the transmission shaft) in
a moment or two. That is why pilots learn
piloting skills on this type, and not the use
of brute force. It is great during autorotation,
because it has a huge range of possible main
rotor speeds. Otherwise, it is playful and agile
and brings experienced pilots real joy of flying,
it also allows excellent training in tactical flying
very close to the ground. And what is the huge
advantage? That it is incredibly quiet compared
to the noisy Mi-2. After the introduction of the
En-480, the number of complaints about noise
decreased by 90%. Simply thanks to it, even
when we fly very intensively, we do not disturb
the locals as much.
INFO Eduard
21
March 2026