Mil Mi-26 in Afghanistan

0630, the sun is just rising from the East, and a bitter cold wind is blowing down off the Hindu Kush Mountains from Pakistan. Winter in Afghanistan can be brutal, but some of the crew on the Mi26T have been here before. Nikolay Palamarchuc, ex-Russian Mi25 Hind Gunship Pilot and Chief Captain today, was here for several years in the 1980s, fighting the Mujahedin. Now he is here as a Contractor flying the Mi26T for Vertical-T, a Russian Company based in Tver, Russia. The Mi26T is used in Theater (Theater of War), mainly as a heavy lift helicopter for Military Supplies...