Behold Boeing’s Blimp-Copter:
Boeing has teamed with a Canadian company to enter the blimp market with a combined airship-helicopter. Working with SkyHook International, Boeing says its JHL-40 could take some 80,000 pounds of cargo over 200 miles. “Boeing said the blimp would be environmentally friendly because it would eliminate the need to build roads or rail lines to remote locations, where transportation can be costly, inadequate and unreliable,” Reuters reports. “The JHL-40, or Jess Heavy Lifter, is named after Pete Jess, president and chief operating officer of SkyHook International, the Calgary, Alberta-based company that secured the patent for the blimp, which combines elements of a helicopter and a traditional airship.”Writing at Aviation Week’s ARES blog, Graham Warwick notes that Boeing is not the first company to push a heli-airship combo. “Piasecki flew the PA-97 Helistat in 1986,” he notes. “This combined a 343 ft-long Navy aerostat with four Sikorsky H-34 helicopters. Boeing says the PA-97 was brought down by ground resonance, something it can avoid using the latest computational tools.”
I almost expect to see Nick Fury aboard this helicopter airship — once it gets a carrier flight deck added on top.