Airships perfect fit for Nunavut mines, says aircraft promoter

See the underbelly of this hybrid air vehicle, called an Airlander, asks Andy Barton, technical manager for a company called Hybrid Air Vehicles, April 16 at his Nunavut Mining Symposium booth. That’s where new generators for Pangnirtung could have been carried to that community from Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Hybrid Air Vehicles’ promotional material shows what one of their airships would look like over a mine site.

What mine operator in Nunavut wouldn’t love to avoid building roads to remote mines — an expensive and time-consuming process that can also be damaging to the Arctic environment.

A British company, Hybrid Air Vehicles, presented just such a road-free option April 16 at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit.

Hybrid Air Vehicles’ aircraft combine the technology of a plane, zeppelin — also called an airship — and helicopter, Andy Barton, technical manager with the UK firm said to a packed auditorium at the Astro Theater.

“It’s a hybrid of an airplane, with its aerodynamic lift, an airship, with its buoyant lift, and a helicopter, with its vector thrust,” Barton said.

The aircraft, which were used by the United States military in Afghanistan, Barton said, can land and take off from land, water and ice without the need of a conventional airstrip.

And his company’s airship remains the safest mode of air transportation, even if all four of its engines fail, Barton said.

“If you happen to lose all four engines, it is amphibious so it will still float. And if it hits the deck, it’ll hit the deck gently.”

Barton said his company hopes to find partners in Nunavut to operate the airships, especially in mine operations requiring large heavy machinery such as bulldozers and dump trucks.

Two models — the Airlander 50 and the Airlander 10 — would be suitable, Barton said, although he didn’t mention their cost in his presentation.

The Airlander 50 can carry up to 60,000 kilograms in its 500-cubic-metre cargo space and remain airborne for up to four days, Barton said during the presentation.

The Airlander 50 also has a hovercraft-like feature which creates a cushion of air upon landing. That airflow can be reversed too, tethering the aircraft to the ground with suction force, Barton added.

And the Airlander 10, which will continue flight testing in 2015 and be available for flight demos in 2016, can carry up to 10,000 kilograms and stay in the air for up to five days.

Sealifts, railways and paved roads are more cost-efficient for cargo transportation than the hybrid aircraft, Barton said, but those are not available year round in Nunavut.

And using C130 airplanes or helicopters are three and six times more expensive, respectively, than the hybrid air vehicles, according to a chart Barton used during his presentation.

The aircraft could be used during multiple phases of a mine’s life, Barton said: from the advanced exploration, construction and operation phases to the mine decommissioning phase.

And after the mine is decommissioned, instead of having a network of roads that may never be used again, the hybrid aircraft can simply deploy elsewhere.

“These [aircraft] actually give you a way of opening up stranded access in sensitive areas without ever having to put a road in,” Barton said.

“Why not use flexible infrastructure instead of roads?”