Inventors in Alliance working on new type of airship

ALLIANCE -- A group of area inventors is looking to write the next chapter in aviation history.

Inside a makeshift hangar at Barber Airport in Alliance is the beginning of what might turn out to be the future of aviation. It's called the Dynalifter.

"It's half and half. Half helium and half airplane," said Bob Rist of Ohio Airships.

It's a combination that will enable the Dynalifter to fly longer, safer and more efficiently than anything out there.

Aerospace engineer Don VanFussen wasn't sure what he thought of it at first.

"50, 60 years ago they stopped using airships for anything other than advertising, but then he showed me the patent and a light dawned and I said this is really something different," said VanFussen.

Rist's patented design is the key. It enables the structure to support weight and carry cargo like no other airship ever could.

"What we've done is gone back to concepts that have been there 70, 80 years ago, but nobody thought to do the construction inside that they're going to do," said test pilot Forrest Barber. "Then to be able to lift the tremendous weights. They'll be able to lift 160 tons out of a 3000-foot strip. That's amazing."

That's down the road. What's being built now is a two-person patrol model that the military is interested in for homeland security.

"We have a need to shore up borders. Also basic patrolling of cities, just another set of eyes in the air to keep the bad guys at bay," said Brian Martin of Ohio Airships.

Ohio Airships expects to have the prototype completed and flying sometime this summer.

"It's really been very exciting to try and design something that nobody's ever attempted before," said VanFussen. "It's a totally different class of aircraft than what we've seen before."

Ohio Airships says the Dynalifter will also forever change the way cargo is shipped, especially overseas. They believe that will eventually bring down the cost of shipping.

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