We’ve been watching Solar Ship for a little while now, a crazy zany cool mashup of a plane and a blimp designed to offer short takeoff and landing capability as well as wildly economical fuel costs (the upper surface is covered with photovoltaic cells) and with a eye towards unseating the DeHaviland Beaver, the worlds best know bush plane, for medical mercy missions and moving cargo into the wilds. We applaud the noble goals, but really, we just want a chance to fly one ourselves! Here’s video from their test flight.
Unlike blimps, which have to be held down against their will, and are very hard to manage in crosswinds, the Solar Ship has a reduced cross section and is heavier than air…though not as much as it would be if that big wing wasn’t filled with helium. As a result it needs its engine going to get up into the air, and it’s designed to still fly if the gas bag gets punctured, but the lift from the bag allows takeoffs and landings in very short fields, and it seems to us that engine failure would be much less of a danger for the nearly weightless craft than your average plane.
Best of all, the solar cells on the upper wing are enough to power it, at least after charging up some on-board batteries.
The return of the airship is often promised, but Solar Ship looks like its evolution might be in the wind instead.
Huzzah!