Hybrid Aircraft Touted for Future

Nov. 15, 2006
Hybrid aircraft, or airships, modern incarnations of the blimp, travel faster than barges and trucks and are cheaper to operate than jets.

Imagine a giant, turtle-shaped aircraft, a combo of blimp, plane and hovercraft, filled with freight, quietly floating over the ocean.

It sounds like science fiction, but serious experts insist it could someday be a reality in Alaska.

Hybrid aircraft, or airships, modern incarnations of the blimp, travel faster than barges and trucks and are cheaper to operate than jets. Promoters hope someday they may haul freight and supplies to remote locations in Alaska.

More than 50 business leaders, students and academics gathered at the University of Alaska, Anchorage on Friday for a round-table discussion on the airships and a presentation from two companies, California-based Aeros and New Mexico-based Hybrid Aircraft Corp.

Alaska is a particularly good market for the airships because of the state's many remote freight needs, like delivering supplies to roadless villages, taking fish to market or hauling oil exploration equipment to the tundra.

The airship is no blimp, Frederick Edworthy, vice president of Aeros, explained to the crowd.

"It's a completely different animal."

A blimp is a slow-moving, low-flying, difficult-to-maneuver, bullet-shaped craft, most commonly used for advertising, famously for the tire company Goodyear.

Airships are designed to carry cargo or passengers. They use a giant bladder, filled with non-flammable helium, and an airplane engine to loft themselves into the air. They fly just low enough to avoid having to pressurize the cabin like an airplane. They are much faster and more maneuverable than blimps. They don't require long runways like jets or a large crew on the ground. They also don't need to be stored in a hangar. Aeros is currently building a test craft.

Airships by Hybrid Aircraft Corp., which have been developed in a partnership with aeronautical giant Lockheed Martin, are further along in development. The company has built one and has orders for others. They want to make the craft commercially available by 2010, said Brad Hodges, executive vice president. Hybrid Aircraft Corp. airships are part hovercraft and can taxi on water.

Airships have not yet been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, the men said.

The airships use less fuel than helicopters and airplanes, and their ability to land on short airstrips is especially important in places with sensitive environments, like the North Slope. Airships aren't cheap. They cost significantly more to operate than boats and trucks and millions to manufacture.

Round-table participants asked how the airships would perform in Alaska's bad weather, and what the effect would be on the helium at 50 below zero. If they have to fly so low, how would they maneuver around mountains? And who would fly them?

Hodges and Edworthy said more study and development are needed.

John Hodel, Alaska unit manager for Panalpina, a company that ships freight all over the world, was among the business people listening to the presentation. The aircraft seemed to have potential for mining or oil development in remote locations, he said.

"The airship concept is attractive. It's non-intrusive; you aren't building roads or destroying the environment," he said.

Thomas Case, dean of the Business and Public Policy college at the university, raised the question of marketing and safety.

"This isn't a blimp but people remember the Hindenburg," he said. "Because of the perception of the older technology and safety problems, can you assure us that this is safe?"

Mead Treadwell, a senior fellow at the Institute of the North and chairman of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, said there were a lot of questions yet to be answered.

"It's a very exciting prospect to contemplate," he said. "It's hard to understand what the economic picture would look like."

Oliver Hedgepeth, chairman of the university's logistics department, said the ships could come into play with construction of a gas pipeline.

"This is the pioneer state; we are pioneering a new type of transportation," he said. "It may take a lot of years, but it's going to happen."

Daily News reporter Julia O'Malley can be reached at or 257-4325.

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