Technology

Boeing Building Biggest Helicopter Ever

posted: 09 July 2008 03:07 pm ET

: Combining the attributes of an airship and a helicopter, the JHL-40 Jess Heavy Lifter is being developed by Boeing and Canada's SkyHook International as the world's most powerful VTOl rotorcraft. It will be able to carry about twice the payload as the Russian Mil Mi-26, currently the world's largest and most powerful helicopter. Credit: Boeing Photo
: Designed to lift 40-ton payloads by means of sling loads, JHL-40 Jess Heavy Lifters will be sued to support energy, logging and mining operations in remote areas and harsh environments such as Arctic Canada. They will be operated by Calgary, Alberta-based SkyHook International. Credit: Boeing Photo

Boeing is partnering with Calgary, Alberta-based SkyHook International Inc. to develop a new kind of vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) rotorcraft able to carry loads twice as heavy as those that can be carried by the world's largest in-service helicopter.

A combination of an aerostatic-lift aircraft and a helicopter, the JHL-40 will be a "neutrally buoyant" aircraft that, like today's airships, features a helium-filled balloon (known in the industry as an "envelope"). In addition, it will have four helicopter-style rotors for vertical lift, and computer graphics of the planned aircraft show it also fitted with ducted propellers to propel the JHL-40 horizontally.

Its helium-filled envelope is sized to support the weight of the aircraft and fuel without payload, so the lift generated by the four rotors will be dedicated solely to lifting the payload itself. This will make the JHL-40 capable of lifting a sling load of nearly 40 tons and transporting it up to 200 nautical miles (230 miles) without refueling, says Boeing.

The JHL-40's planned payload will be approximately twice the maximum load that the Mil Mi-26 (currently the world's largest helicopter) can lift, according to SkyHook International. The huge Mi-12 that the Soviet Union built in the late 1960s and flew for two years could carry 88,000 pounds, more than the JHL-40 is planned to be able to lift, but at 121 feet 4 inches long and 41 feet high the Mi-12 wasn't as large dimensionally as the JHL-40. This enormous helicopter of tomorrow will be 302 feet long, 217 feet wide and 118 feet high, and so, size-wise, it will be the largest helicopter ever.

Named the Jess Heavy Lifter after Pete Jess, SkyHook International's president, the JHL-40 is designed to address the limitations and expense of transporting equipment and materials in remote regions and harsh environments such as the Canadian Arctic and Alaska. Conventional land and water transportation in these undeveloped regions is inadequate, unreliable and costly. When flying without a load, the JHL-40 will have a ferry range of 800 nautical miles (921 miles), so it will be able to deploy itself to remote locations where it is needed.

St. Louis, Mo.-based Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, the Boeing unit that will build the JHL-40, says it already has received from SkyHook the first increment of a multi-year contract to develop the new aircraft. Privately owned SkyHook expects the JHL-40 to support several industries, including energy, mining and logging.

"There is a definite need for this technology. The list of customers waiting for SkyHook's services is extensive, and they enthusiastically support the development of the JHL-40," said Pete Jess, SkyHook's president and chief operating officer.

"Companies have suggested this new technology will enable them to modify their current operational strategy and begin working much sooner on projects that were thought to be 15 to 20 years away," added Jess. "This Boeing-SkyHook technology represents an environmentally acceptable solution for these companies' heavy-lift short-haul challenges, and it's the only way many projects will be able to progress economically."

JHL-40 claimed environmentally acceptable

Boeing says the JHL-40 is environmentally acceptable because it mitigates the impact of building new roadways in remote areas, and Skyhook is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the industrial projects it supports.

"SkyHook secured the patent for this neutrally buoyant aircraft and approached Boeing with the opportunity to develop and build the system," said Pat Donnelly, director of Advanced Rotorcraft Systems for Boeing. "We conducted a feasibility study and decided this opportunity is a perfect fit for Advanced Systems' technical capabilities."

Boeing is designing and will fabricate two production prototypes of the JHL-40 at its Rotorcraft Systems facility in Ridley Park, Pa. Skyhook will own, maintain, operate and service all JHL-40 aircraft for customers worldwide.

The new aircraft will enter commercial service as soon as it is certified by Transport Canada and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Boeing and SkyHook officials couldn't be reached immediately to confirm the date when the JHL-40 is planned to enter service.

SkyHook's principals have a 30-year history in remote-area operations and logistics in support of exploration, research and development in isolated regions of the world.