I have been asked why they decided to build the plane rather than buy a ready-made one.
Well, firstly, I was offered to build it, which in itself was a very interesting activity for me. I did not only read the “necessary books” as a child, but also worked for 8 years at the department of aerodynamics and flight dynamics of the Borisoglebsk VVAUL as a flying teacher, and headed the cadet design bureau. However, I was forbidden to build full-scale airplanes (“fly what you’re supposed to”) - they were afraid “that something might not work out,” but calculations, coursework, and models were built with the cadets. So there were no problems in this area. The problems were financial. So when the collective farm offered to build an airplane at its own expense, I happily agreed.
Secondly, in 1989 they weren’t selling planes yet, the old units were still flying. When I started working on it (pollinating and fertilizing fields), I was surprised: “Why do they think that there is no replacement for the An-2?" After all, the industry could produce aircraft of a similar design!
From a huge junkyard of planes (quite serviceable) I removed wheels, wing attachments, rudders, doors, steering wheels, everything that I considered necessary. Because we, as a collective farm brigade, cut up a scrap metal dump for them, the second Krasnodar air detachment sold me from warehouses everything I needed. The An-2 stabilizer with all the rudders and trim tabs, the fin, ailerons, etc., and the the still “warm”, decommissioned Mi-2 fuselage with all the stuffing (except for the SRZO), which t didn’t even need to be painted! We tried to fit the upper wing of an An-2 onto the Mi-2 fuselage, but nothing came of this idea. The wing did not resist torques at all, and we did not install powerful struts and strengthen the spars (the engines need to be mounted on something). The L-410 wing worked well!
The wing mount, however, did not coincide with the Mi-2 gearbox mount, so we made a transition frame from a channel and reinforced it with titanium linings. All connections were bolted. The frame was screwed to the fuselage with standard gearbox mounting bolts in their own holes, and the wing to the frame with standard wing mounting bolts. The safety margin of all homemade power elements was 3. The engines were hung on standard wing mounts using homemade motors; the standard ones did not fit. I had to rack my brains over the installation of the engines, the plane of rotation of the propellers (they should not pass through the cockpit) and alignment. Therefore, there was a small “jamb” here - the engines were located somewhat close to the fire wall in the nacelle, which worsened the airflow and the temperature conditions (especially in summer) of their operation were close to the upper limit, which caused constant concern. It was impossible to lengthen the motor mount rods, then the front alignment generally went beyond reasonable limits, and reworking the wing mounting frame lengthened the construction time, which the chairman could not allow! But the M-14 are wonderful engines - they withstood all the “bullying”!
The SKh-2's performance characteristics were exactly the same as those of the An-2, and the load capacity was approximately the same, but the reliability was much higher (two engines) and fuel consumption (not to mention oil) was two times lower! The only drawback was that due to the excessive forward alignment (8-10% MAR), it was difficult to control in the longitudinal sense, but I installed a sliding elevator trim control switch on the control stick, which made it much easier to control in the lateral direction. it was lighter than the An-2 (I flew both).
I have read that the use of a helicopter fuselage in an airplane version is unjustified: that the calculations are made differently, that the aerodynamics are not the same, and that in general it's all incompatible! I don’t want to offend anyone, but such reasoning, to put it mildly, does not correspond to reality. If I stuck a wing to a steam locomotive, it would be incompatible, for sure... It’s surprising that such statements are made by people involved in aviation... Besides, the Mi-2 fuselage is better (I’m just in love with it), in every respect, than the An-14 fuselage — strength, aerodynamics and even appearance! At one point, I disassembled the An-14 down to the last screw, and therefore I know what I’m saying.
Overall, the SKh-2 was a great plane! In 1990, it cost the collective farm 24 thousand Soviet rubles... a little more than 10 thousand was spent on hardware, and the rest was salaries, business trips and other unforeseen expenses. If you built such an airplane now (taking into account today's exorbitant prices), I think it would easily pay for itself in a couple of years. And if produced at a factory, it could well have replaced the An-2 in terms of technical requirements. service, and profitability! Nowadays, unfortunately, one can only dream about something like this! It would still be possible to solve almost all issues, but a lot of money would be needed — unfortunately!
When the plane began to be cut down (before my eyes), I brought in the prosecutor’s office, the police, the Cossacks, but the chairman showed the decision of the board, which indicated that due to the fact that I repeatedly flew low over the village (at the request of the chairman himself, who loved to boast, flying with me low over the board, his home, the village), it created great danger for the lives of the residents... Consequently, the collective farm flying club wasdisbanded, the planes were destroyed and scrapped... The prosecutor's office and the police threw up their hands, the Cossacks made a little noise and then also left... And everything (there was at least 10 aircraft there), was transported for three days by KamAZ trucks to various landfills and they were guarded so that we could not take anything. That's it.
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