Transporting into the future: Boeing and Skyhook team up for neutrally buoyant aircraft

Diesel Progress North American Edition, Sept, 2008 by Bill Siuru

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The remote regions of Alaska and Northern Canada are filled with valuable resources-petroleum, natural gas, diamonds and more. Unfortunately, exploiting them is difficult. The climate is rather inhospitable and the transportation infrastructure is minimal or doesn't even exist, plus all-weather roads or railroads are prohibitively expensive.

Transporting supplies via ice roads to remote facilities and operations can be difficult, unreliable and expensive. Using ice roads over the region's many lakes means transport has to be done in the darkness of winter when the weather is at its worst. These roads can also harm the Arctic region's fragile ecology.

The Boeing Co. and SkyHook International, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, are jointly developing a promising solution, the Jess Heavy Lifter (JHL)-40. The JHL-40 was named after Pete Jess, SkyHook's president and CEO, who has more than 30 years of experience in remote-area operations and logistics in support of exploration, research and development projects in isolated regions of the world.

SkyHook holds the patent for the neutrally buoyant aircraft, which combines features of a helicopter and a traditional airship. Though it looks like an airship or blimp, it's called a neutrally buoyant, heavy-lift aircraft in that a static balance with the atmosphere is achieved by a combination of gas manipulation, rudder technology and thruster technology.

The 302 ft. long by 217 ft. wide by 118 ft. tall, helium-filled envelope is sized to support the weight of the airship and fuel without a payload. With the empty weight of the aircraft supported by the envelope, the lift generated by four rotors is used solely for lifting the payload. With the weight of the load being handled only by the rotors, the neutrally buoyant JHL-40 does not rise or fall rapidly when the load is removed or added. This has been a problem with many previous airship-based logistic systems.

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Central to the system are four gas turbines driving four Boeing Model 234 rotors. The rotors provide the lift for handling loads, while the ducted fan at the bow and stern provides propulsion and directional control. A decision on the engines for the JHL40 is expected within the year. The rotors are the same used for the Chinook CH-47 and are 60 ft. in diameter. The rotor technology, including blades, drivetrain, gearboxes and other dynamic components, is based on a Boeing/ Rotorcraft design that has been around since the early 1960s. The thrusters are 13.5 ft. ducted fans. A total of somewhere around 24,000 hp will be required.

The JHL-40 will run on ordinary Jet A fuel. While a lot of jet fuel will be required, the alternatives use much more and are more harmful to the environment, claimed the company. The JHL-40 would, in many cases, eliminate the need to build and maintain roads--very fuel-intensive operations.

The JHL-40 concept is designed to be more fuel efficient than heavy lift helicopters that burn significant amounts of fuel just to get off the ground. The aircraft will be capable of lifting a 40 ton sling load and transporting it up to 200 miles without refueling in harsh environments, such as the Canadian Arctic and Alaska. The JHL-40 can lift and carry twice as much as the current largest helicopter, the Russian Mi-26, said the company. Like current lift helicopters, all loads will be carried externally. The vessel will have very precise station-keeping capabilities, making it capable of accurately positioning and releasing payloads. The JHL-40 is self-deployable worldwide with an 800 nautical mile ferry range. It has a top speed of 70 knots (80.6 mph).

Besides a flight deck, there will be sleeping, eating and bathing accommodations in an underneath gondola that probably will be about the size of a couple of school buses to accommodate the five-person crew. The designers liken it to a tugboat and motorhome.

Because it is designed for operation in the Arctic and with input from Arctic-experienced pilots and maintainers, it will be able to sustain the crew should they have to ditch because of bad weather. Other features include appropriate envelope materials, snow and ice detection, anti-icing systems and arctic environmental control systems (ECS).

Boeing is designing and will fabricate two JHL-40 production prototypes at its Rotorcraft Systems facility in Ridley Park, Penn. After the craft is certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Transport Canada, it is tentatively scheduled to start commercial service in 2012. Skyhook will own, maintain, operate and service all JHL-40 aircraft for customers. Boeing envisions initially producing 50 to 60 aircraft.

Boeing said the JHL-40 is much more environmentally friendly than building roads and railroads in remote areas and will have a smaller carbon footprint than other logistics systems. The Boeing-SkyHook aircraft could also be used in other applications, including hauling logs in forests, installing power lines in remote regions, fighting forest fires and supplying offshore oil rigs--or anywhere you need a hook with a 40 ton payload.