Setback Won’t Hinder Aeroscraft Fleet Development Efforts, Says Aeros’ CEO Igor Pasternak

Emergency personnel responded to a partial roof collapse at Airship Hangar 1, located on a former Marine base in Orange County, CA, just before 8:00 am Tuesday. The hangar is where the Aeroscraft demonstration airship is housed. A 25’ x 25’ foot hole in the structure’s roof collapsed for unknown reasons. The incident caused no injuries to personnel but inflicted damage to the tail end of the Aeroscraft engineering demonstration vehicle.

Building 28, also known as Airship Hangar 1, is designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It was used originally during World War II to house aircraft and airships utilized for maritime patrol of the West Coast and Pacific Theater, and has been used more recently to house the advanced prototype for a new cargo dirigible known as an Aeroscraft. The building has an adjacent ‘sister’ structure on the property.

“We’re very fortunate and grateful no one was injured by the roof collapse, and that the vehicle has been successfully tested and flown providing our engineers and flight operations team with useful insights and data for nearly a year,” further explains John Kiehle, Director of Communications at Aeros.

“Our initial visual estimates show that the vehicle is potentially repairable; however, we won’t be able to send in our team for further evaluation until the area is deemed safe for entry,” said Igor Pasternak, CEO of Aeros. “This won’t stop us, and we’ll continue to move forward full speed on fleet development plans for the 66-ton and 250-ton cargo capacity Aeroscraft to provide vertical air delivery of cargo around the world.”   
 
The company says the Aeroscraft is a new type of Rigid Variable Buoyancy Air Vehicle, designed to control lift in all stages of air or ground operations, including the ability to off-load heavy payloads without the need to re-ballast.

(Image provided by Aeroscraft)

FMI: www.aeroscraft.com