Helium-filled plane under development

New Scientist : Alexander Gamaleyev of Riga Technical University in Latvia and Dimitris Drikakis of Cranfield University in the UK are leading the Extremely Short Take Off and Landing On any Surface (ESTOLAS) project for the European Commission. ESTOLAS currently envisions an ultralight plane made from carbon fiber, driven by propellors, and carrying an internal helium reservoir to significantly lighten the plane. The design also includes a wing-shaped body that provides extra lift on take off and abottom-mounted horizontal rotor that can also help raise or lower the plane. With the addition of a skirt, the horizontal rotor could also turn the plane into a hovercraft. The project goal is to develop an aircraft that can access difficult to reach places to provide supplies and other services. A previous project initially started by the Soviet Union attempted a similar design but was unable to overcome instability problems. Gamaleyev believes that modern flight computers and design techniques will provide the solutions to the earlier project’s problems.