PZL W-3 Sokół
utility helicopter family by PZL-Świdnik
The PZL W-3 Sokół (English: "Falcon") is a medium-size twin-engine multipurpose helicopter developed and manufactured by Polish helicopter company PZL-Świdnik, which is now owned by Leonardo. It was the first helicopter entirely designed and produced in Poland.
Design
The PZL W-3 is powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney turboshaft engines built under license by a factory in Rzeszów. The original variant of the engine, the PZL-10W, and its successor, the PZL-10S, were both Polish-built modifications of the Russian Glushenkov TVD-10B turboprop design that had powered the earlier Antonov An-28. Composite materials are incorporated into the three-bladed tail rotor and four-bladed main rotor rotors assemblies. The rotors have an ice protection system, allowing the helicopter to operate in environments between -40 and +43°C.
The Sokół has been used in diverse occasions, including for VIPs, and is capable of performing a typical range of helicopter missions, including passenger transport, cargo, EMS/medevac, firefighting and search and rescue. When used in maritime environments, the rotorcraft is typically outfitted with floats, a transponder, a global positioning system navigation system, night-vision equipment, and a Lucas winch.
Development
Origins
In 1973, work commenced on what would become the W-3 Sokół at PZL Świdnik. The design was created by an in-house team led by aeronautical engineer Stanisław Kamiński. The Soviet Air Force and Aeroflot were intended as the primary operators of the aircraft.
“PZL W-3 Sokół” enters the record as utility helicopter family by PZL-Świdnik. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sokół, utility and helicopter can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q764207. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1973.
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This entry incorporates text from “PZL W-3 Sokół” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.