Interview with Robert Rist from Ohio Airships

It's been a long time since I heard any news about the Dynalifter Aircraft that is being developed by Ohio Airships. But it seems like they rebuilt their damaged prototype in a proper hangar and are trying to continue development. I am still a bit doubtful that the Dynalifter will ever fly or if it does will have that kind of impact that Ohio Airships claims it will have. Time will tell. Have a look at this video that was just posted on YouTube where Robert Rist from Ohio Airships gives an interview about the Project, you get some good views of the prototype.
Ohio Airships

Dynalifter update. It's still alive

Robert Rist from Ohio Airships provided me with a quick update on the Dynalifters state, this is what we wrote:

The Dynalifter's Hangar was damaged, and maintained somewhat intact after today's inspections. Main collapse missed the Dynalifter's main beam by inches. The aircraft is repairable, not destroyed. We are looking for a new location.

It's good to know that the Dynalifter was not completely destroyed but the repairs will obviously take some time. We will keep you posted, when the Dynalifter found a new hangar and is ready to fly again.

Dynalifter prototype destroyed

Mark Fisher sent this already around the Airship-list but we would like to share this sad news with those who do not subscribe to this list. The Dynalifter prototype got wrecked by a storm this last weekend. On the X-Plane Forums there was a post by Robert Rist reporting that the Dynalifter prototype got severely damaged. Here is the full text:

See attached Pictures, Winds Last Friday hit hanger near 80 Plus MPH. The hanger protected the prototype till the end. There is damage to aircraft, but all and all not too bad. The aircraft bent under the stress of the hanger rings, but if you notice the south wall held, and the aircraft fell under the south wall. The main beam of aircraft though bent is intact and still there. The tail though beat up still solid. The aircraft was undergoing modification to lower weight of landing gear. If you look close you can see the new Starboard landing gear took the brunt of the load and just flatten the tire. We have not seen the cockpit yet. Thanks for all your support in this project. I think we can rebuild the aircraft, but need to now find another airport, and hanger. As you know, it takes a lot of ups and downs to get an aircraft as new as this going. We are very positive for the future, and we consider this an act of God, and we proceed. As it says on the side of the aircraft... WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, including wind burst. We go on.

Bob Rist
OAi

These are the pictures which are mentioned in the post, click on them to get a bigger size.

If you want to read the original post then go here. It's sad to see this happen. We are still waiting for an interview by Robert Rist but haven't gotten back from him. We will now add more questions about the storm wreckage and how the project will now continue to our interview.

Ohio Akron and it's airships

When you write about airships you have to come accross Akron Ohio sooner or later. To me this happened this week, somehow this city and it's airshipindustry chased after me. First I found this picture on a website called Plan59 they are calling themselfes "the museum (and gift shop) of midcentury illustration. I don't know if they have more pictures and images of airships one might have to look through the archives. They also offer high resolution TIFF versions and a high resolution JPG, too.

But this was not by far every thing about Akron, next there was some buzz about the Dynalifter Project that drew my attention to them, right now I am trying to get an interview from Robert Rist one of the founders and Co-President of Ohio Airships, Inc. the Company behind the Dynalifter Aircraft. The Dynalifter, is not a classic airship because it needs dynamic-lift to fly and and is not able to do VTOL (vertical take off and landing) like most modern airships can. But the project aims to combine the best of both worlds, fuel efficiency of airships and speed and handling of planes. So stay tuned for more on that too.
Our last Akron encounter is with the current owner of the big hangar that is pictured above in the illustration. If you kept track Lockheed Martin is currently the owner and they are/were developing a High Altitude Airship that can stay deployed for a very long time in a high, almost geo-stational, location in the athmosphere. I will try to find out more about the project and the progress they have made if I can. If not all we have is the marketing illustrations that some of you have already read/heard about but out main goal is to satisfy the customer.

Regards,
Andreas