Eight Royal Air Force officers are currently in Ukraine to receive briefings on Russia's Mil Mi-17 transport helicopter. The four pilots, two navigators and two flight engineers are being trained over a four-week period at Kremenchug Flight College, and are likely to be followed from mid-March by a further two groups, each comprising two pilots and one engineer.
The courses consist of three weeks of ground school and 10h in a new, $1 million Mi-17 flight simulator - but no actual flying time. According to Edward Shulman, who represents the Ukrainian training academy in Canada and the USA, the current aircrew already had "five to 10h" on type - apparently accumulated in Poland - when they began the course in mid-February.
The RAF confirms that the officers are at the college, and says the training is an example of "ever-improving relationships" between the UK and Ukraine.
Although this is believed to be the first time that UK aircrew have officially trained on a Russian helicopter, Shulman says that regular detachments from the US Air Force 6th Special Operations Squadron visit the academy, which lies 265km (165 miles) south-east of Kiev. As a combat advisory unit for foreign governments - the first-ever in the USAF - its aircrew are required to have an understanding of foreign types such as the multirole Mi-17.
ANDREW HEALEY / LONDON
Source: Flight International