IT'S A BLIMP, IT'S A CRANE, IT'S A HELI-STAT Helicopter pioneer Frank Piasecki hopes his weird-looking new flying machine will give a lift to the logging industry.
(FORTUNE Magazine) – GETTING the Heli-Stat off the ground may not require a stunt pilot's derring- do, but it sure takes imagination and ingenuity. The ungainly craft consists of a Navy surplus blimp and four modified Korean-war-vintage military helicopters held together by a jungle-gym structure of aluminum irrigation pipe. The hybrid flying machine is designed to lift heavy loads such as timber or military equipment out of hard-to-reach locations. In April its builders plan to launch the 343-foot-long craft on its maiden flight at its base in Lakehurst, New Jersey, best remembered as the site of the dirigible Hindenburg's disaster nearly 50 years ago. The Heli-Stat is the dream of Frank Piasecki, 66, a pioneer helicopter manufacturer who won a National Medal of Technology in March for his 1940s invention of the Flying Banana, a heavy cargo helicopter with two large rotors in tandem. In 1955, after he was forced out as chairman of the company he had founded, Piasecki left to start a firm that eventually produced faster, more comfortable helicopters. Though he got a patent for the Heli-Stat concept in 1961, it took him until the late 1970s to sell the idea to the U.S. Forest Service as a way to remove logs from timberland without cutting roads through the woods. In 1979, when the Forest Service got approval to develop a heavy- lift vehicle, Piasecki underbid Goodyear. The Heli-Stat is designed to lift 20 tons, 25% more than the Sikorsky Super Stallion, the most powerful U.S. military helicopter. Piasecki officials say an improved version could pick up 25 tons. The lift of the helium-filled blimp offsets the craft's weight so that nearly all the engine power can be used for hoisting. The crew of five for the experimental model includes a pilot, a co- pilot, and three engineers. So far the Forest Service has paid Piasecki's company about $30 million, roughly twice what he projected. The Heli-Stat also won a Golden Fleece award from Senator William Proxmire in 1984 for wasting the taxpayers' money. Even so, it would have cost much more if Piasecki had not relied on used parts. If the Heli-Stat flies, will anyone buy it? A 1978 study by Booz Allen Applied Research concluded that a market existed for about 170 heavy-lift vehicles in the 25-ton payload range. Some timber industry executives say that lower timber prices now make the Heli-Stat less cost-effective. The Forest Service says preliminary data show that for heavy loads the Heli-Stat would cost half as much to operate per ton of payload as a single helicopter would. Piasecki claims that a number of large timber companies are interested in buying or leasing future 25-ton-capacity Heli-Stats, which might cost $8 million to $10 million each. Despite the uncertain market for the Heli-Stat, it already has competition. The Cyclo-Crane, designed by publicly held AeroLift of Tillamook, Oregon, has been flying for a year and a half. A more innovative design than the Heli- Stat, the Cyclo-Crane consists of a helium-filled blimp, two stunt-plane engines mounted on wings attached on opposite sides, and a cabin for the pilot slung 130 feet below the air bag. The contraption is much more maneuverable than a blimp. By changing the pitch of the wings, the pilot can virtually turn the ship on a dime. The test model can lift only two tons, but company officials say a larger vehicle could carry up to 25 tons. AeroLift has already raised $7 million in private and government funds, including a $1-million grant from the Forest Service, and is seeking $3.5 million more from the Defense Department. AeroLift executives doubt that the timber industry has much need right now for the Cyclo-Crane, but they say it could move heavy equipment used in strip mining or offshore oil drilling. |
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