More than just hot air

Alliance, Ohio

-- Three miles north of Alliance sits Barber Airport, a mud-and-grass strip like the fields where modern aviation was born a century ago.

Off by the tree line is a white, barrel-roofed tent that looks like a Quonset hut. Here, two Ohio men hope, a new kind of airship is taking shape that could redefine aviation at the dawn of its second century.

A long, triangular girder runs for 120 feet, nearly the entire length of the tent. Large metal hoops radiating off the girder are covered partially by loose skin, flimsier than a shower curtain. This humble web of steel, aluminum and sailcloth could pass for a fallen radio tower.

But it is the first of a fleet of airships that will make air cargo far more affordable, patrol the skies, save fuel, go slower than a jet but a lot faster than an ocean freighter, and linger far more quietly than a helicopter, say Robert Rist and Brian Martin, co-presidents of Ohio Airships.

It will fly on airfoil wings like an airplane and rise with the aid of helium like a dirigible or blimp. And they say it will fly this spring.

This is the flying prototype, one-tenth the size of the largest craft they envision.

In all, they plan four different sizes, and expect each to turn a profit.

If that is not audacious enough, consider that neither man is an engineer or a licensed pilot. Martin has a bachelor's degree in business, and Rist an associate's degree in avionics, a branch of electronics focusing on aerospace applications.

When they've been in airplanes at all, it has been with the same level of participation as their luggage.

"We consider it an asset not to be in any of the known circles of aviation," said Martin, 31. "People in aviation have preconceived notions" about what will fly, how it will look, what will propel and lift it.

Rist, 44, is quick to point out that Wilbur and Orville Wright were even less credentialed than he and Martin.

He said that if the Wrights had worked within the constraints of established industries, the biggest thing they'd have done would have been to build a better bicycle, "and Edison would have made a brighter candle."

"That doesn't mean that we don't have people within the aviation industry to test the concept," Martin said.

"We hire the best," said Rist.

One is Dr. Daniel Raymer, formerly of Lockheed Martin. He runs Conceptual Research Corp. and did the conceptual design for the largest Dynalifter's final form. The ships have many applications, and he is most excited about their ability to linger, Raymer said in a telephone interview. He said they could lift far heavier radar equipment than the current early warning planes.

Rist and Martin said they have had preliminary discussions with the Department of Defense, which expressed interest.

They estimated that they have invested about $500,000, including in-kind assistance from people in the aerospace industry and money from investors and benefactors.

They've had the idea since 1999, when both were on the staff at Mount Union College - Rist as an electronics jack-of-all-trades and Martin as a computer programmer.

Rist said the idea grew out of his attempts to build a model airship for his son. Martin saw the potential for carrying freight and the idea outgrew its original scale and intended use.

Bits and pieces of the Dynalifter have been around for centuries.

The Montgolfier Brothers of France are credited with creating one of the first successful aircraft, launching a hot air balloon in 1782, and carrying barnyard animals and two people aloft in flights the following year.

Lighter-than-air vessels took many forms after that. Many hot air and gas balloons looked like light bulbs with boxy gondolas slung underneath.

Dirigibles and blimps looked like cigars and generally were powered by propellers, like airplanes. Dirigibles, incidentally, are rigid because of iron or steel frameworks, while blimps are nonrigid and maintain their shape only when inflated.

"But don't call this a blimp or dirigible," said Rist, tiring of reporters who fall back on established images and ideas.

Airships reached their zenith between the world wars, but a series of spectacular disasters grounded the German Zeppelins and the U.S. Navy's dirigibles, as well as the French and British programs. The Navy hung onto blimps to scout for submarines, retiring the last one in 1962.

They were supplanted by helicopters and became novelties flying billboards, goodwill ambassadors and platforms for TV cameras at ball games. Goodyear's blimps are the most famous today, and approximate the size and form of the Navy blimps.

In the last 20 years, various companies have tried to revive airships and some have proposed hybrids. Lockheed Martin, which acquired Goodyear's aerospace division, is working on several projects now.

But for the moment blimps hold center stage as game-day prima donnas. That brings up just one of many selling points for Rist.

"A blimp costs $2,800 an hour to operate, because of the fuel and the extensive ground crew," he said. It is too light to use brakes like an airplane, so it must be held down by lots of people, just as Jonathan Swift's Lilliputians held Lemuel Gulliver.

The Dynalifter would only cost $280 an hour to fly, Rist said. Here's why.

The aluminum truss beam makes it semi-rigid and gives it a bit more mass than a blimp. The helium 20,000 cubic feet in the prototype provides half the lift. The wings and forward thrust from aircraft engines and props provide the other half. It has dense enough mass to land by itself, but it remains light enough to take off in 400 feet 4,000 feet for the biggest one.

The largest Dynalifter should be able to carry two M1A1 Abrams tanks, which weigh 70 tons apiece, Rist said.

The Air Force's huge C5A airplane can do that too, Rist and Martin said, but a lot more expensively, and the plane would have to refuel in flight to cross an ocean.

The big cargo planes also have to choose between fuel or cargo, they said. A C5A cannot be topped off and have a full cargo hold at the same time.

The Dynalifter can, will use a lot less fuel, and can cross the Atlantic without refueling in flight. One other thing the Dynalifter can do is to fly into history without showing up on a North Carolina license plate.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jewinger@plaind.com, 216-999-3905

© 2005 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.