Aeroscraft - This Looks Cool!

http://www.aeroscraft.com/




LIFTOFF!: Even though the Aeroscraft dwarfs the largest commercial airliners, it requires less net space on the ground than any plane because it doesn't need a runway. The airship takes off and lands like a helicopter: straight up and down.



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 craft's 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 staterooms, 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 an 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."

Aeroscraft
Purpose: Long-range travel for passengers who are more concerned with the journey than the destination
Dimensions (feet): 165 h x 244 w x 647 l
Max Speed: 174 mph
Range: 6,000 miles
Capacity: 250 passengers

Now THAT is cool!

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 staterooms, restaurants, even a casino.

I wonder what the economics of this will turn out to be? How many $ per passenger mile in costs and revenues? It seems too slow to garner business users. But for vacations, it's pretty much like a cruise ship on land. They could see all the sights. Maybe they could make a stop at the Grand Canyon, another at Rocky Mountain National Park, another at Mt. Rushmore another at the prison where Obama will be held . . . Sounds like a great trip!

At only 8000 feet and just 170mph they'd be subject to a lot of bad weather, and they couldn't make it over the Rocky Mountains. It does not sound very feasible. Kind of like a giant Cessna 172.

iluvfreebeer wrote: They could see all the sights. Maybe they could make a stop at the Grand Canyon, another at Rocky Mountain National Park, another at Mt. Rushmore another at the prison where Obama will be held . . . Sounds like a great trip!

Man, you kill me!

From your lips to God's ears!

Obama Rulz wrote:At only 8000 feet and just 170mph they'd be subject to a lot of bad weather, and they couldn't make it over the Rocky Mountains. It does not sound very feasible. Kind of like a giant Cessna 172.

...or socialism actually ever working!