The Flying Luxury Hotel
Los Angeles,
January 15, 2006
Tomorrow's cruise ship
will sail through the air, not the water
THIS IS NOT A BLIMP.
It's a sort of flying Queen
Mary 2 that could change the way you think about air travel It's the
Aeroscraft, and when it's completed, it will ferry pampered passengers
across continents and oceans as they stroll leisurely about the one-acre
cabin or relax in their well-appointed staterooms.
Unlike its dirigible ancestors, the
Aeroscraft is not lighter than air. Its 14 million cubic feet of helium
hoist only two thirds of the crafts weight. The rigid and surprisingly
aerodynamic body - driven by huge rearward propellers - generates enough
additional lift to keep the behemoth and its 400-ton payload aloft while
cruising. During takeoff and landing, six turbofan jet engines push the
ship up or ease its descent.
This two-football-fields-long concept
airship is the brainchild of Igor Pasternak, whose privately-funded
California firm, Worldwide Aeros Corporation, is in the early stages of
developing a prototype and expects to have one completed by 2010.
Pasternak says several cruise ship companies have expressed interest in
the project, and for good reason: The craft would have a range of several
thousand miles and, with an estimated top speed of 174 mph, could traverse
the continental U.S. in about 18 hours. During the flight, passengers
would peer at national landmarks just 8,000 feet below or, if they weren't
captivated by the view, the cavernous interior would easily accommodate
such amenities as luxury state-rooms, restaurants, even a casino.
To minimize noise, the aft-mounted
propellers will be electric, powered by a renewable source such as
hydrogen fuel cells. A sophisticated buoyancy-management system will serve
the same purpose as trim on the airplane, allowing for precise adjustments
in flight dynamics to compensate for outside conditions and passenger
movement. The automated system will draw outside air into compartments
throughout the ship and compress it to manage onboard weight.
The company envisions a cargo carrying
version that could deliver a store's worth of merchandise from a
centralized distribution center straight to a Wal-Mart parking lot or,
because the helium-filled craft will float, a year's worth of supplies to
an offshore oil rig. "You can land on the snow, you can land on the
water," Pasternak says. "It's a new vision of what can be done in the
air."
By Joshua Tompkins
About
Worldwide Aeros Corp:
Worldwide Aeros Corp. is
the world's leading lighter-than-air, FAA-certified aircraft manufacturing
company. The company's operations involve the research, development, and
marketing of a complete family of Aeros-branded air vehicles used in
military and civilian applications. These include
rigid aeroscrafts, commercial
non-rigid airships, and advanced tethered
aerostatic systems.
The Aeros airships serve both government agencies
and private corporations and are available for a wide variety of platform
missions including advertising, touring, surveillance and broadcasting.
Worldwide Aeros Corp. has a presence across three continents and has
affiliates in eight European and Asian countries. The company's
industry-leading expertise is based on more than 20 years of operations
and advanced research in lighter-than-air technologies. Please visit us at
www.aerosml.com for more information and news about Worldwide Aeros
Corp.
Contact:
Edward
Pevzner
Business Development Manager
Tel. 818 344-3999 x 106
Edward@AerosML.com
Send update news to me
