A most interesting Russian Mil Mi-2 Hoplite stood out on the ramp at AirVenture ‘23, and ANN’s helo consultant Rex Alexander was on the case. To give him the rundown, Tom “Mach” Schnell gave him a heads-up on the aircraft’s mission.
Schnell is the Director of the Operator Performance Laboratory at the University of Iowa. His work there focuses on bringing enhanced vision systems into the cockpit, to give aviators the ability to see through any kind of IMC or nighttime conditions. LIDAR has come into play, too, allowing operators to easily perform instantaneous rangefinding and obstacle detection from afar.
All that info can be combined into a single feed to the operator, and displayed in the panel or on the helmet. Schnell loves his Hoplite, using it as a testbed for his work with the University and the FAA Technical Center. Schnell’s work as a professor gives lookie-loos an impressive amount of insight into his work - just a visit to the Operator Performance Laboratory shows a full 3D view of his hangar and its contents, with price sheets listed for those curious about the cost of operating an Mi-2 today. In the course of his studies and operations, Schnell finds it runs about $850 an hour for the vintage Soviet helicopter.
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