Can Boeing bring a heavy-lift dirigible to the market?
October 13, 2008
With all-cargo versions of its B777 and 747-8 models already in the pipeline, Boeing is turning to a different type of cargo aircraft. In a joint venture with Canadian firm SkyHook International, the plane maker is developing a 300-foot-long dirigible that will be able to carry loads up to 40 tons over distances of up to 200 miles.
The JHL-40 Jess Heavy Lifter will be a hybrid — half airship and half helicopter. According to the plans, the gas that fills the envelope keeps the aircraft aloft, making it naturally buoyant, while the loads are lifted by four rotors. It was conceived by SkyHook founder Pete Jess, a helicopter pilot turned logistics provider. Jess approached Boeing with the concept in 2006 and managed to convince the aerospace firm of the viability of the project.
The agreement between Boeing and SkyHook calls for the manufacturer to handle design, development and production of the blimp, while the Canadian partner,which retains the intellectual property rights, will own, operate and maintain the JHL-40s.
The schedule calls for Boeing to complete detailed engineering work by2012 and have the first two models ready for operation in 2012. “Production can start as early as 2013,” said Ken Laubsch, program manager for the SkyHook project at Boeing.
His optimism and the rather tight timetable are based on the fact that none of the constituent parts of the hybrid will have to be developed from scratch. The SkyHook project was born seven years ago, when Jess realized that all the materials and components required had been developed.
With all parts based on tried and tested technology, Laubsch expects relatively few technological challenges. The biggest issue will be the flight control system, which will have to manage four rotors and the same number of thrust devices, he said.
The hybrid concept of blending airship with helicopter technology is unusual in the airship arena, said Barry Prentice, a professor at the Transport Institute of the I.H. Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba,who has followed airship development for years. He sees two major advantages in this approach.<
First, the JHL-40 will not need to carry ballast, unlike conventional airships, he said. More importantly, the use of rotors to lift the load and maneuver the craft means that the pilot can place the load accurately while hovering above the ground. “You would be hard pressed to do this with a regular airship,” Prentice said.
This would be extremely useful for projects such as the planned Mackenzie pipeline project in Canada’s Northwest Territories, he said.“Normally, you would bring the pipes in by barge and then build roads to truck them to the right spot. Those roads won’t be used again,” Prentice said.
Challenges such as these, where the final leg of transportation is more costly than the major part of the distance, stood at the cradle of theinception of the JHL-40. Between his years as a helicopter pilot and the formation of Jessco Logistics (Jess’s own business supplying aircraft, boats,machinery and equipment to companies working in the Far North), the father ofthe blimp managed far northern logistics for Dome Petroleum and Pan arctic Oils.
Moving equipment for the oil and gas industry to remote areas in the Arctic tops the list of possible applications for the aircraft, according to Laubsch. Hence the payload and range of the JHL-40, which are markedly lower than those of typical airships. Cargo lifter, which made a sustained effort a few years back but ran out of money, was aiming at a model that could carry 160tons. Laubsch said Skyhook’s specifications have been based on customer needs,particularly the oil and gas industry.
Ron Buschmann, managing director of Calgary-based general sales agent and charter broker Aerodyne Cargo Services, sees some merit in the concept if it works as planned. Aerodyne predominantly arranges charters for the oil and gas industry. “Even for the diamond industry, this would be handy. All those planes flying supplies to those mines land on gravel runways now,” he said.
Notwithstanding possible applications such as the Mackenzie pipeline,Gary Sandberg, head of Victoria, British Columbia-based charter broker Mondial Aviation, sees little need for the Sky Hook aircraft, arguing that payload and range would be too limited. “We’ve got zero interest in it,” he said.
Boeing projects worldwide demand of 50 to 60 aircraft of the JHL-40type for cold-weather applications. A modified version could be deployed later in tropical markets such as Brazil. “The design can stay the same. All you need todo is resize the envelope,” Laubsch said.
Prentice has set the bar even higher, estimating that Canada alone could absorb 250 airships. He pointed to the fact that global warming is drastically reducing the window for ice roads in the Canadian north. Moreover,the complexity of current supply chains to move food to northern Canada has produced prices that are three times as high as in the south of the country.
Previous efforts at establishing airships as a viable solution for moving cargo have gone nowhere, the demise of Cargo lifter in 2003 being the most recent notable failure. Prentice regards the entry of Boeing into this arena as a massive boost for the airship, signaling business confidence in the concept.
Prentice sees four areas where airships could play a role in the future. Precision placement and movement of outsize loads such as pipes for pipelines, rotors for wind turbines constitute a natural choice for aircraft like the JHL-40, he said. Airships operating at high altitude would be of interest for spying and communication purposes, he said, citing Lockheed Martin’s semi-clandestine development of a high-altitude model. Airships also could find niches in tourism and survey and monitoring activities at low altitude. A fourth sector he sees is the movement of goods over long distances.
Being significantly slower, airships would not compete with planes;they would address a different segment of the market, he added.
For these scenarios to materialize, infrastructure must be created.Airships do not require airports to take off and land, but they need hangars for servicing. Prentice believes this should be shouldered by government, justas it has provided and maintained roads.
Boeing has not made a final decision on where assembly of production JHL-40s will occur. The prototypes will be made in the U.S., but serial production is more likely to be located in Canada, given the focus on the northern oil and gas industry as the primary customer base, Laubsch said.
It would not be without irony if the SkyHook-Boeing project were to prove the catalyst for a proliferation of airships in the cargo sector. WhileJess has a solid cargo and logistics background, he is unlike the typical proponents of the airship camp, Prentice said.
“Pete Jess is in many ways the atypical airship guy,” he said. “These people usually come out of the scene around balloons or airships; they’re not helicopter people.” He added that few efforts in airship development have sought to integrate elements of helicopter technology.
“It seems that real change often has to come from outside the industry,” Prentice said. “The ballpoint pen was not invented by the fountain pen people.”
Ian Putzger
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