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THE  FLYING LUXURY  HOTEL

Even though the Aeroscraft dwarfs the largest commercial  airliners, it requires less net space on the ground than  any plane because it doesn't need a runway. The airship  takes off and lands like a helicopter: straight up and  down.

This is not a Blimp. It's a sort of  flying Queen Mary 2 that could change the way you think  about air travel. It's the Aeroscraft, and when it's  completed, it will ferry pampered passengers across  continents and oceans as they stroll leisurely about the  one-acre cabin or relax in their well-appointed  staterooms.
Unlike its dirigible ancestors, the  Aeroscraft is not lighter than air. Its 14 million cubic  feet of helium hoist only two thirds of the craft's  weight. The rigid and surprisingly aerodynamic  body-driven by huge rearward propellers-generates enough  additional lift to keep the behemo! th and its 400-ton  payload aloft while cruising. During takeoff and  landing, six turbofan jet engines push the ship up or  ease its descent.  

This  two-football-fields-long concept airship is the  brainchild of Igor Pasternak, whose privately-funded  California firm,  Worldwide Aeros Corporation, is in the early stages of  developing a prototype and expects to have one completed  by 2010. Pasternak says several cruise ship companies  have expressed interest in the project, and for good  reason: The craft would have a range of several thousand  miles and, with an estimated top speed of 174 mph, could  traverse the continental U.S. in about  18 hours. During the flight, passengers would peer at  national landmarks just 8,000 feet below or, if they  weren't captivated by the view, the cavernous interior  would easily accommodate such amenities! as luxury  staterooms, restaurants, even a casino.    
To  minimize noise, the aft-mounted propellers will be  electric, powered by a renewable source such as hydrogen  fuel cells. A sophisticated buoyancy-management system  will serve the same purpose as trim on an airplane,  allowing for precise adjustments in flight dynamics to  compensate for outside conditions and passenger  movement. The automated system will draw outside air  into compartments throughout the ship and compress it to  manage onboard weight.  On  a pressurized plane, windows like these would explode  outward . The Aeroscraft does not fly high enough to  need pressurization.

The  company envisions a cargo-carrying version that could  deliver a store's worth of merchandise from a  centralized distribution center straight to a Wal-Mart  parking lot or, because the helium-filled craft will  float, a year's worth of supplies to an offshore oil  rig. "You can land on the snow, you can land on the  water," Pasternak says. "It's a new vision of what can  be done in the air."  

Aeroscraft
Purpose:  Long-range travel for passengers who are more concerned  with the journey than the destination
Dimensions  (feet): 165 h x 244 w x 647 l
Max Speed: 174 mph  
Range: 6,000 miles

Capacity: 250  passengers