Hybrid Airship Could Launch Shipping Revolution

The half-blimp half-jet saves fuel and requires no transportation infrastructure.

By Ben Hellwarth
Oct 8, 2013 9:00 PMNov 12, 2019 4:38 AM
dynalifter.jpg
A prototype of the Dynalifter, shown last winter at Toledo Express Airport, has passed preliminary testing. Future Dynalifters would be three to eight times larger than the prototype. The full-scale airship would dwarf a military cargo plane. | Robert Rist

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Working at a small college in the shadow of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and its iconic dirigibles in the late 1990s, computer systems technician Robert Rist was deep into building a blimp-like model with his young son. But as simple as working blimps seemed, Rist had trouble getting his model airborne. 

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