Airship manufacturer proposes partnership with Vienna airport

The airport has what the company needs to develop its aircraft, the company’s founder said.

STAFF REPORT

VIENNA — The founder of Dynalifter, a freight-moving aircraft in the line of a dirigible or blimp, will make a presentation to the Western Reserve Port Authority on Wednesday morning, seeking a partnership to allow the company to test and build the aircraft at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

Robert Rist, president of Ohio Airships Inc., said Monday that testing the aircraft at the airport could provide more than 500 jobs to the airport. If production of the aircraft were to take place, employment could swell to 1,500, Rist said.

“We will have jobs for all skill sets, from welders, fabricators, riggers and administrative staffing,” he said.

A Dynalifter is a hybrid of helium airship and fixed-wing plane that offers low fuel costs and the potential to move freight at low cost, officials say. The aircraft could also move military and disaster relief cargo, Rist said.

Don Hanni III introduced the idea of having port authority members talk to Rist about the Dynalifter when Hanni attended his first port authority meeting Jan. 21. Hanni replaced his father, Don Hanni Jr., on the port authority board after the elder Hanni died July 16, 2008.

The company has a 350-foot prototype model in a warehouse in Hiram that was formerly housed in a warehouse in Alliance before a thunderstorm damaged the warehouse and the aircraft, Rist said.

“We’re hopeful that maybe something can happen down the road,” said Steve Bowser, director of aviation at the airport. Bowser said he has talked with Rist about the Dynalifter since the Jan. 21 meeting and believes the idea has merit.

“What he says he can do is interesting,” Bowser said.

Bowser noted that the airport does typically house four to five dirigibles per year in the summer, such as the Fugi blimp or Goodyear blimp, so it’s not too big of a stretch to imagine that testing of such a craft is possible.

Rist says the airport has “all the company needs” in order to test and manufacture the aircraft: a hangar, large underutilized all-weather runways, and “great security” from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.

Rist said his company would like to move into the former Alpha Aircraft Charter hangar. Am Air Flight Centre, a flight school, formerly used the hangar.