THE BEST AGRICULTURAL AND FIRE-FIGHTING AIRPLANE IN THE WORLD / POLISH PZL M18 DROMADER AIRPLANE

PZL-Mielec, then known as WSK-Mielec, began to design the Dromader in the mid 1970s, with help of United States aircraft manufacturer Rockwell International. PZL-Mielec asked for Rockwell's help because of the political situation at the time: operating in an Eastern Bloc country, PZL wanted the aircraft to sell well worldwide, and the company realized that certification by the United States Federal Aviation Administration would be important in reaching that goal. Rockwell on the other hand wanted to fit Polish high-power radial engines into its agricultural planes. As a result of this cooperation the Rockwell Thrush Commander aircraft was fitted with the PZL-3 engine, and the Polish designers created the higher payload M-18 Dromader by introducing the more powerful ASz-62 engine, making structural changes to the airframe, and increasing dimensions. The cooperation led to the Dromader sharing outer wing panels and part of the fuselage with the Thrush Commander.

The first prototype of the aircraft flew on August 27, 1976. In September 1978, the aircraft was given certification to fly in Poland. Certifications from many countries around the world followed soon.

During the 1980s, PZL envisaged a family of related designs based on the M-18, optimised for different capacities. The M-21 Dromader Mini and M-24 Dromader Super flew in prototype form, and a M-25 Dromader Mikro was designed. However, none of these saw production.

Many aircraft of the M-18 type and its variations can still be seen around the world. They were sold to 24 countries, over 200 are used in the US.[1] In 2008, fifteen were sold to China.[2] In 2012, PZL-Mielec was still selling models M-18B and M-18BS, with 759 built in total.[1] As of 2017, the Dromader was sold by PZL-Mielec, but the production has been halted.[2] The produced aircraft are still refurbished instead, with new engines (produced by WSK "PZL-Kalisz").[2] There are plans to acquire rights and renew the production in WZL-2 in Bydgoszcz.[2]