4 ms·
It is pretty shocking from many points of view: 1) Are these people barred from legitimately selling helicopters? Perhaps some sanctions? 2) Making a helicopt
by systemvoltage 6y ago
It is pretty shocking from many points of view:
1) Are these people barred from legitimately selling helicopters? Perhaps some sanctions?
2) Making a helicopter fly with the right engineering and control system is monumentally difficult - doesn't matter if its a knock off, assembled from parts or OEM.
3) Where did they get the skills and how did they acquire them? Did they have the capital to purchase a few originals and take them apart?
4) At this point, why not just sell them legitimately? Regulatory requirements prohibitive?
- pvg 6y agoIt's worth keeping in mind where this happened - a place where there's still a lot of gear, expertise, parts etc kicking about. Nearby Romania was once a licensed producer of this particular type of old Soviet utility helicopter. Corruption is endemic and the line between 'legitimate' business and one that isn't can be blurry and change over time, both intentionally by the operators and due to shifting political fortunes.
- cameldrv 6y agoYeah and Russia has had a big military presence in Transnistria for a long time. They mention a lot of the workers coming across the river into Moldova. I bet they are all ex-helicopter mechanics for the Russian army that used to work on this model, and someone had the idea that they could make more money building the helicopters instead of fixing them.
- nineteen999 6y agoIt's possible that they didn't pay their "taxes" or grease the right palms, and were shut down.