Originally Posted by
khorton
It depends on which web site you want to believe.
This site lists the max sling capacity of a CH-47D as 26,000 lb, or 11.8 tonnes.
Sure, the thing is you can find a variety of numbers in various places. All we can say got sure is that it's apparent that the Chinook is certainly structurally capable of slinging over 10 tonne. I do know the weights of the conexes we were flying into there, and I'm fairly confident that Tourist wasn't there, flying one of those helicopters so doesn't have a point of reference what those particular airframes were capable of in that operational trim under those conditions. Anyway, the whole branch of the discussion is a bit silly and the bottom line is that there are helicopters capable of carrying a 20 tonne load, and while that capability will decrease with altitude and temperature, so too will the lifting capability of an hybrid airship which depends on aerostatic buoyancy and vectored thrust.
As far as a 50T and 100T version, they're just barely flying the 10T one so those are purely speculative at this point. I am reminded of the Moller sky car, no prototype of which has ever hovered out of ground effect, or off of a tether, but according to the promoter, is just a few years away from being able to cruise 4 people at 267 knots at 36,000 ft.
When they have built one which actually *does* lift 50t, *then* we can start discussing it's merits.
It's worth noting that neither has this prototype demonstrated the ability to carry a 10 Tonne payload. All it's done is fly around empty for a half hour. So the marketing claims of "up to 10,000 kg" are just that; claims, which have not yet been demonstrated.