NEWS
In a cross between blimps for freight and flying robots for disaster relief, comes word of a new heavy lifting airship proposal by an Australian company that could potentially transport heavy and awkward loads to remote areas. Known as the ‘Skylifter’, the novel dirigible gas balloon system is intended for transporting cargo too heavy or bulky for conventional aircraft and helicopters. The Skylifter development team is aiming for a payload capacity of up to 150 tonnes. While the company’s immediate plans are for traditional payloads, down the road, it would be interested in developing prefabricated buildings that could reach the remote areas.

VIEWS
Decades after the horrible Hindenburg’s fiery disaster and the scuttling of the German dirigibles by the victorious ‘Allies’ in the aftermath of World War II, when the industry began to revitalise, fans of airships have been hoping for a large-scale revival of the majestic floating aircraft. Since then, every few years lighter/heavier than air flying concepts have come along to raise those hopes, such as Northrop Grumman’s long endurance multi-intelligence vehicle, Skyhook’s JHL-40, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Walrus, which led to the current Aeroscraft ML866 project. Now, there appears to be another contender vying for a niche in this field—Australia’s Skylifter, but with a unique design of its own.

So, what is different? Rather than use either a spherical or a cigar-shaped aerostat, as the gas-filled envelope of lighterthan-aircraft is known, the Skylifter team has developed a discus-shaped one like a flying saucer. This means that like a traditional, round balloon and unlike the elongated dirigible blimps, the craft is ‘directionless’ i.e. it is totally oblivious of where the wind might be blowing from. Because of its saucer like round design, it always remains aligned to the wind. The Skylifter is being developed to use aerostatic lift to remain airborne and uses paddle type propellers to direct its flight. There is no requirement for any wings, fins or control surfaces. In other words, it combines the advantages of both the spherical balloons and the cigar-shaped dirigibles to give it a revolutionary capability—that of a giant helicopter. The biggest helicopter in the world today boasts of a 20-tonne payload capability, whereas the makers of the Skylifter are hoping to have a 150-tonne lifting capability as a starter, an increase by 700 per cent.

The Skylifter’s design is said to consist of three main sections. Floating at the top would be the symmetrical discus aerostat, permanently filled with lighter-than-air (LTA) gas like Helium. Hanging on suspension lines below it would be the cylindrical control pod, with the two-pilot flight deck mounted at the bottom. The cargo would hang from cables below the control pod (see illustration). Biodiesel engines, augmented by solar panels on top of the saucer, would generate electricity to power three cycloidal propellers, with horizontally arranged blades, mounted on the sides of the control pod. The main advantage of such propellers is that they can be easily controlled via a helicopter-style collective. This would come in handy for the precise manoeuvring involved in collecting and depositing of cargo but without the unsettling downwash of a hovering helicopter.