The future for Heavyliſt transport? It could be lighter than air


HEAVY LIFT\\\ Issue 2 2014 - Freight Business Journal 37


Large loads are increasingly unwelcome on congested highways – and in any case they can only go whether the roads go. Moving them by conventional fixed-wing aircraſt or water is fine, but only if there are suitable seaports and airports at origin and destination. So could airships be the future for heavyliſt transport? UK-based Hybrid Air Vehicles


(HAV) thinks it might. Based at Cardington, Bedfordshire – the home of the innovative but ultimately ill-fated R101 airship in the 1920s – the company hopes to have the prototype of its Airlander airship flying in early 2015, according to a recent BBC report. HAV originally developed


Airlander for the US military, and got as far as flight testing a prototype airship at Lakehurst Naval Center in New Jersey in August 2012. But then US Government budget cuts intervened, and the project was scrapped. Undaunted, HAV dismantled


the Airlander and shipped it back in 14 huge boxes – a major project


shipment in itself - to its home base in Cardington. Here, it has been refurbishing Hangar 1 – fittingly the home of the R101 during its brief existence before it crashed on its maiden voyage in France in October 1930 - and plans to get the prototype Airlander back in the air in just under a year’s time. Testing inside the hangar is scheduled to take place later this year and roll- out is expected around the end of 2014. Airships


are used today,


mostly for airborne surveillance operations and occasionally for cargo transport, but HAV says that Airlander’s unique design – essentially three airship hulls stitched together – will give it unique payload and range capabilities. According to the BBC, the prototype can carry a load of 1.225 tonnes for up to 21 days, but on shorter flights payload increases to five tonnes. And larger versions still on the drawing board may be able to carry 50 tonnes or more, putting it in the same category as all but the very largest fixed-wing aircraſt flying


today. Maximum speed is put at around 85-100mph. HAV programme director,


Nick Allman, said that the triple hull design turned the Airlander into a giant wing, so it is not simply relying on Helium for its liſt (inert Helium being the gas of choice for airships ever since the Hydrogen-filled machines of the 1930s crashed and burned) but could also produce liſt in a similar manner to a fixed wing aircraſt. Combining all the different technologies would create a very fuel-efficient aircraſt with very long endurance, he said, capable of moving a large payload from point to point without the need for expensive and possibly damaging ground infrastructure like concrete runways, as it would be able to land on any reasonably flat surface, including water or ice. Fuel consumption of the prototype is but at 3,100 litres per day.


The prototype, 300-foot


long machine will be used to demonstrate the possibilities before work begins on building


Aeroscraſt signs Bertling deal


The Airlander may not have the skies to itself, if and when it goes into operation. Los Angeles- based Aeroscraſt Corporation is pushing ahead with its own revolutionary airship design, which uses a unique variable buoyancy system to take off and land. Known as control- of-static-heaviness (COSH), the technology means that the Aeroscraſt’s pilot can completely control its rise or fall, avoiding the need for masts or anchor points, and without the need to add or jettison ballast as with existing airship designs, says the company. This would give the Aeroscraſt truly go-anywhere capability.


Aeroscraſt is currently


developing a 66-ton capacity craſt, but says that a later version will be capable of liſting no less than 250 tons – about the same as the unique Antonov 225 fixed- wing aircraſt. Aeroscraſt has already signed


agreements with conventional freight airlines Icelandair and Cargolux. The Icelandair deal envisages cargo being delivered by conventional air services to a hub in Iceland for onward transport by Aeroscraſt to destinations such as Greenland, Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada. The deal with Cargolux would give Aeroscraſt access to Cargolux’s airfreight network


in Europe and the surrounding regions and the carrier’s project and general cargo expertise, as well as maintenance support. Now, Aeroscraſt has signed


a memorandum with freight forwarder Bertling Logistics in Houston to evaluate various business relationships including a possible joint venture. Bertling would become a launch partner for both versions of the Aeroscraſt, while the airship company would be able to broaden its customer base


through Bertling’s


worldwide client network and use the forwarder’s expertise in engineering and load management services.


Van der Vlist opens in Germany


Heavylift transport specialist Van der Vlist has opened a new facility in Schermbeck, Germany.


The office handles permits and route surveys as well as dealing with the authorities in the country, cutting waiting times


and increasing efficiency for all movements to and from one of the largest countries in central Europe.


a larger 400ſt model currently on the drawing-board. Possible applications include mining and disaster relief, both sectors where fixed wing aircraſt and surface transport are currently widely used. HAV eventually hopes to build hundreds of the machines at Cardington, said Allman. A video produced by HAV itself


said that the Airlander could offer capacity for up to 50 tonnes of freight over a range of 1500-1600 miles travelling at anything up to 100mph. In surveillance mode, carrying a payload of 7-8 tonnes, the craſt would be capable of staying aloſt for 4-5 days. HAV chief test pilot Dave Burns


described the Airlander as “a delight to fly”, able to accelerate and get airborne much more quickly than any other aircraſt.


Sensitivity to weather is one


objection levelled against airships. Aerodynamicist David Stewart however said that the Airlander would be able to operate in temperatures ranging from +54 down to -56 degrees Celcius and it would have on-board radar so it would be able to avoid any storms, adding: “And even if we are in the vicinity of any storms, we can quite happily driſt away from it and wait for the weather to clear.” • HAV has taken the innovative


step for an aerospace company of setting up a club to generate interest. In exchange for a £25 fee, it offers a newsletter, a promise to put the member’s name on the aircraſt hull, access to a priority queue list for the initial passenger flights and access to the hangar, when it is opened up to the public. But unusually for a company


website, HAV lists no contact details whatsoever on its website – possibly fearing inundation from curious aviation enthusiasts.


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