Pelican

[ORAC]

No, not the Boeing Pelican (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Pelican), but this Pelican which grew out of the same original research project....

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_10_15_2012_p46-504677.xml&p=1Pelican Demonstrator Aimed At Airlift

A revolutionary aircraft prototype is now in the final stages of assembly and integration in a World War II airship hangar in Tustin, Calif. Developed by Aeros Corp., a California start-up, and funded by the Defense Department as a potential long-range transportation technology, the Pelican combines buoyant and aerodynamic lift in a different way from other lighter-than-air and hybrid vehicles, and is designed to be more efficient, more flexible and easier to handle on the ground. Its designers think that it could be evolved quickly into a vehicle with a C-17-like payload and range, combined with vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) capability...........

http://www.aviationweek.com/media/images/fullsize/Defense/Miscellaneous/Aeros-Aeros.jpg

[NutLoose]

Do you think when it hatches from that pupa it will come out a giant butterfly?

Looks impressive.

[Pontius]

....There's nothing cushy about life in the Women's Auxiliary Balloon Corps!

[Lima Juliet]

the Pelican combines buoyant and aerodynamic lift in a different way from other lighter-than-air and hybrid vehicles, and is designed to be more efficient, more flexible and easier to handle on the ground

Yeah right, heavier-than-air light aircraft, gliders and micro lights are all hard to handle on the ground if the wind is above 25kts; this p!ece of sh!t will be even more of a handfull! Take yesterday and today accross the UK, 210/25G30 for most of the 48hrs - just how easy is this thing going to be to handle on the ground.

Lighter-than-air as had been said before is 'snake oil' that comes around as often as that tired carousel of slides of you as a 4 year old at your parents house...:ugh:

Try investing cash into cold-fusion or anti-gravity and you would stand a better chance of success...:hmm: Michael J Fox hoverboard anyone?

LJ

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Anyone want to dig out the previous conversations on PPRuNe about the 'true' cost of helium?

[Corporal Clott]

Helium Shortage - Why Is There a Helium Shortage? - Popular Mechanics (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/med-tech/why-is-there-a-helium-shortage-10031229)

Enough said...