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H I G H - P E R F O R M A N C E C O M P O S I T E S
WORK IN PROGRESS
A
irships have been an important
part of modern aviation since
Count Ferdinand von Zeppe-
lin envisioned the frst such
craft in 1874. Zeppelin's design,
which involved a rigid framework that
supported the outer envelope or skin,
meant that an airship could be made
much larger and support more load than
a simple gas-flled blimp.
Unfortunately, Zeppelin could not ob-
tain helium (only available from sources
outside Germany, it was embargoed be-
cause of Hitler's armed buildup) and
risked the use of fammable hydrogen.
The Hindenburg tragedy in May 1937 and
the onset of World War II ended Zeppelin's
successful and fashionable transatlantic
fights, and heavier-than-air craft came to
dominate the airways. Yet, the allure of
airships lived on in the imagination.
Igor Pasternak, for one, imagines a
new generation of airships with greatly
expanded capabilities. He's the founder,
CEO and chief engineer at Worldwide
Aeros Corp. (Aeros, Montbello, Calif.).
Fascinated by lighter-than-air craft since
childhood, Pasternak formed his frst air-
ship company in Ukraine, during the mid-
1980s. After moving the company to the
U.S. in 1994, he was able to secure fund-
ing through the development and sale of
tethered military aerostats (lighter-than-
air aerodynamic balloons) as well as con-
ventional U.S. Federal Aviation Admin.
(FAA)-certifed airships. In 2005, he won a
U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) contract to develop a
strategic airlifter for possible military use.
The DARPA funds offered a chance to
develop something radically new. Tradi-
tional blimps use helium-flled fexible
The builders of this
variable-buoyancy
craft count on
carbon fiber/epoxy
trusswork to
enable a new era
of air transport.
BY SARA BLACK
DON'T
CALL IT
A BLIMP!
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