Blimp-Plane Hybrid: World's Next Megamover?

Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News

January 31, 2006

In a plastic-covered hangar near an Ohio cornfield stands a 120-foot- long (37-meter-long), two-seat airship that its creators hope will usher in a new transportation era.

The craft, named Dynalifter, may be outfitted with two small engines and filled with 16,500 cubic feet (470 cubic meters) of helium.

Just don't call it a blimp.

"Dynalifter is a hybrid aircraft," said Robert Rist, a co-founder of Ohio Airships Inc., the Mantua-based company that built the aircraft. "The only comparison [with a blimp] is that they both use helium."

Unlike a blimp, the Dynalifter has wings and is a heavier-than-air aircraft. Its weight is carried by aerodynamic lift on the wings and hull and is augmented by helium lift. (More on the future of flight.)

The prototype airship, which Rist and his business partner Brian Martin hope to test fly this spring, is one-eighth the size of their ultimate goal: a 990-foot-long (300-meter-long) Dynalifter.

The smaller development model is "a baseline aircraft to innovate from," Rist said.

The entrepreneurs envision that a future Dynalifter could have a wide range of transportation applications.

Such a craft could move materials at a lower cost than airplanes and at higher speeds than ships, they believe. It could also deliver supplies to hard-to-reach places, making it especially useful in military and emergency situations.

Following Hughes

Rist and Martin, who met as co-workers in the computer department at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, formed Ohio Airships Inc. in 1999. Neither has an aeronautical background.

They initially based their model on an idea for a hybrid aircraft conceived by aviation tycoon Howard Hughes. Hughes's project, known as the Clark Megalifter, was scrapped after his death.

The main innovation of the Dynalifter, Rist says, is its internal structure, which uses a central beam supported by cables from a tower, similar to the design of a cable-stay bridge.

"The design allows the craft to operate under a much wider envelope of loads and buoyant lift combination," Rist said.

The Dynalifter's substantial weight should allow it to withstand gusty winds, a problem encountered by most airships.

The airship is designed to land like a normal aircraft, decelerating on a runway as its weight is transferred from the wings to the tires. It needs no ground crew to catch and tie it down, which other airships require.

The prototype has cost U.S. $500,000 to design, build, and test—all of it coming from private donations.

"We consider [that] outstanding," Rist said. "It's not what a typical 120-foot aircraft costs these days."

Military Use

The aircraft's ability to land in short distances with high-volume cargo bays could make it ideal for shipping supplies to hard-to-reach areas and emergency situations, Rist says.

Places with poor road networks could also benefit.

"Like the cell phone has brought the third world to the communications era, the Dynalifter will allow freight to [avoid] infrastructure costs of road and train track," Rist said.

The aircraft could also have military uses, and Rist and Martin have met with Pentagon officials to discuss a possible partnership.

For now, the two men are focused on Dynalifter's maiden journey, which they hope to make this spring.

"We are very confident an airship with wings will fly," Rist said. "We have learned from other failed companies, and we believe this design will avoid the fate of all the other large airship projects of the past 60 years."

Free E-Mail News Updates
Sign up for our Inside National Geographic newsletter. Every two weeks we'll send you our top stories and pictures (see sample).