The first pattern flight of the second prototype of the Mil Mi-38 medium transport helicopter (Prototype OP-2, RA-38012) took place in the city of Kazan on 22 November 2010. The machine was flown by the crew consisting of Mil test pilots Vladimir Kutanin and Salavat Sadriyev as well as Chief Flight Test Engineer Igor Klevantsev. The helicopter was made by Kazan Helicopters in August 2010 and rolled out for ground tests and debugging. Kutanin’s crew conducted the first hover test on 30 October. In all, the second Mi-38 prototype had logged seven hover and low-speed flights over the runway before the end of November.

The second Mi-38 prototype is powered by Canadian-made Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127TS turboshafts, just as the first Mi-38 prototype (OP-1, RA-38011) was. At the same time, unlike the first prototype, the OP-2 embodies several design modifications, e.g. the improved hydraulic and fuel systems, modified main rotor blades and the helicopter control system fitted with standard-design feel-spring mechanisms. This resulted in enhanced controllability and stability of the helicopter. In addition, the second Mi-38 prototype is equipped with the advanced Transas IBKO-38 avionics suite wrapped around the ‘glass cockpit’.

In December, the OP-2 was handed over to the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant for the full-scale flight test programme, to which end it ferried from Kazan to the Moscow Region.

Kazan Helicopters is assembling the third Mi-38 prototype (OP-3) to be powered by advanced Russian engine TV7-117V (VK-3000) that the Klimov company is developing and the Chernyshev Machine-building company is productionising. The helicopter can start its tests in 2011, and the very first prototype can resume flights at the same time, once it has been debugged.

According to a news release by the Russian Helicopters joint stock company, the Mi-38 is planned for full-rate production by Kazan Helicopters in 2015.