SkyLifters are heavy-lifting aircraft in development.
The aircraft are designed to take off where helicopters leave off, with vertical pick-up and delivery capability of over-size, fragile or bulky items up to 150 tonnes and, on a case by case basis, potentially more. Initially, SkyLifters are designed to be aerial cranes used to transport luxury self-contained accommodation pods. These aircraft may also be used to transport other payloads or freight.

Further into the future a SkyPalace variant is under consideration, for luxury air-cruising. Beyond this there are many potential applications.

The SkyLifter solution - a piloted aircraft for crane and transportation logistics

• 150-tonne-load vertical pickup and precise delivery
• any Shape, any Location, any Distance
• more than helicopter operating capability but without the windy downdraft or noise
• minimal environmental footprint

SkyLifter is a buoyant aircraft using established lighter-than-air (LTA) principles to vertically raise and set down payloads - nearly anything, to/from anywhere.

The three primary benefits of large LTA aircraft are:
1. vertical lift of heavy or large payloads - potentially a thousand tonnes.
2. flight duration - potentially days not hours.
3. environment friendly - low emissions per tonne/km.

This SkyLifter payload capability of upto 150 tonnes provides over 15 times the lifting capacity of an S-64 Skycrane helicopter, but without the windy downdraft or noise.

The long flight duration of 24 hours ensures a good distance range but also adds flexibility to logistics. For instance the aircraft can loiter over a ground location for long periods using minimal energy.

SkyLifter is a piloted, dirigible gas balloon system, with a lenticular aerostat for reduced aerodynamic drag (when compared to a spherical aerostat). The aircraft has omni-directional capability (there is no front or back) and a control pod is suspended low below the aerostat incorporating the habitable areas and main aircraft systems.

It is intended to serve as a point to point transport vehicle for over-sized, heavy, fragile or indivisible payloads over short/mid haul routes in the lower atmosphere.

It can also be configured for long haul, overseas, long duration and high altitude (stratospheric) applications.

SkyLifters will offer industry a whole new level of logistics capability and operational flexibility. 

We have been careful to design SkyLifters as simple and as low-cost as possible to build and operate but with unparalleled capability and without compromising performance or safety.

In the design we have brought together many systems already proven and in use in industry, adapted them to our requirements and added some of our own configuration innovations. The result is shorter development time, less cost and much less project risk.

For example, three key innovations of the design are:
1. the symmetrical discus (lenticular) aerostat (balloon) which removes the need for SkyLifter to turn to face into wind and greatly simplifies load handling.
2. the even distribution of payload via the suspension lines which removes the need to build heavy and complex internal support structures.
3. the propulsion and directional control is provided by several cycloidal propeller systems, providing almost instant vectored thrust in the horizontal and vertical planes. The system also provides additional active automated stability control.

The vertical tube one sees connecting the aerostat and the pod is simply a flexible two-way service trunk for personnel and systems.

The design is quite different from what one may have seen before. Its simplicity-of-form may seem obvious now but it has taken many years of hard work and investment to create this overall package that delivers a practical and cost-effective turn-key solution.

By the way, if there are any thoughts about copying the design and building it without our input, we advise that there are numerous critical design features not mentioned here. One would therefore find it cheaper, easier and quicker to involve us. We are interested to talk with people who wish to work and develop with us.

SkyLifters are not designed to fly as fast as jets and rotor-craft. Its primary function is the unique heavy-airlift capability; vertical crane lift for pick-up and precise delivery of anything, anywhere, and with no height restrictions!

At 80km/h SkyLifter may only have the speed of a truck but it can take a payload directly from A to D, bypassing handling and hand-off points at B and C - direct from a manufacturer's site to the final installed site. So the total transit time may indeed be similar to an air-cargo jet and with reduced overall costs.
This performance is unmatched!

SkyLifter performance goals:

• Cruise airspeed 45knots (83 km/h)
• Free flight operation for periods typically not less than 12 hours
• Therefore normal range of operation at least 2000km
• Positions for 2 pilots, although single pilot operable
• Able to pick up or set down payloads directly with vertical lift (as a crane) essentially unaided, without landing
• Able to operate in confined spaces (minimum circle 3x SkyLifter diameter)
• Able to takeoff and land at its operational site without complex ground infrastructure
• Able to transit directly without external assistance
• Able to withstand storm conditions whilst moored under gusting winds of 80knots (148 km/h)
• Able to be assembled, inflated, setup and maintained at an operating site without a hangar
• Environment-friendly and able to operate in most environments (hot/cold, wet/dry)

One may have searched this website for SkyLifter specification detail. One may be looking for information regarding:

• buoyancy management systems
• flight characteristics
• aerodynamic stress models
• performance specifications
• operating costs
• propulsion & fuel statistics
• load exchange procedures

All this information is available confidentially to investors and customers but it is obviously commercially sensitive data so we cannot publish it at this stage of development.

We understand there is a keen and active community of aviation enthusiasts who would dearly like to examine the SkyLifter's details. We will publish as soon as we can.