| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| Boeing, Skyhook To Build A BIG Airship |
| 2008-07-09 |
| A private Calgary company and the world's biggest aircraft maker plan to build a 'blimp on steriods' - an airship filled with helium and powered by big rotors that can be used to haul heavy equipment to remote areas where there are no roads, including northern Canada. Calgary's SkyHook International Inc. announced Tuesday it is teaming up with Chicago-based Boeing Co. to build the so-called Jess Heavy Lifter, or JHL-40, which will haul steel, huge trucks and That's a big advantage in the Arctic, where the costs of developing oil and gas projects and diamond and base metal mines have soared because of the need to build roads or provide expensive airplane access to remote communities. Boeing and SkyHook hope to have the first JHL-40 in service by 2012. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #14 sws - the MST3K line was... JOEL: Let's go, Gamera! [music starts] ALL: Gamera! Gamera! Gamera is really neat. Gamera is filled with meat. We've been eating Gamera! |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-07-09 16:35 |
| #13 MM: that crash you are referring to was of a similiar concept built by the Piasaki company (sic i think) He was the founder of what is now Boeing Helicopters. He developed the twin rotor helicopter for heavy lifting without the restrictions a single rotor w/ anti-torque tail rotor had. anyway, his rube goldberg machine was a blimp with 4 CH-34's minus tail booms and tail rotors bolted to the four corners. got the monster airborne, but one on the mutant helos broke away (mounting strut failure) and the whole thing crashed, killing the pilot. funded on a shoe string, the word was that they were not going to do any more work with it. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-07-09 14:45 |
| #12 MST3K fans: Gamara is really neat! He is full of turtle meat! We all love Gamara! I love it. Sounds like something from Red Alert 3. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-07-09 12:28 |
| #11 God I didn't know Gamera was a musical. No wonder I prefer Godzilla. And Joe, well done. Your best post ever. I imagine a big heavy lift zeppelin would be useful in the Amazon and other places as well. They need to build it of teflon materials like the transhab to prevent crazy environmentals from shooting at it but beyond that if time is not a factor it's a better, cheaper, way to move bulk. I also imagine a day when such a blimp could be useful in cross-country travel. It'd be like a cruiseship, but in the air, and you could take your car with you. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-07-09 12:26 |
| #10 Giant cargo-hauling Zeppelins . . . cool! |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-07-09 11:20 |
| #9 Can't find it right now, but there is an online video of such a beast crashing horribly. I think it happened not that long ago... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-07-09 10:50 |
| #8 20,000 HP! for comparison, the Hindenburg blimp had about 5,000 HP! |
| Posted by: mhw 2008-07-09 08:16 |
| #7 Skyhook? Lsdies named Sarah Connors should be wary before they open the door. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-07-09 07:33 |
| #6 Environmentalists protest in 3..2..1.. |
| Posted by: gromky 2008-07-09 02:41 |
| #5 Why not just wait a couple of years and ship it in instead? |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-07-09 01:06 |
| #4 |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-07-09 00:55 |
| #3 This could put a dent in the Ice Road Truckers program. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-07-09 00:48 |
| #2 D *** NG IT, THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE "GAMERA", AND NEVER FORGET IT! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-07-09 00:10 |
| #1 Since these reportedly may be TURTLE-SHAPED, I formally propose naming the first four crafts after the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-07-09 00:09 |