Dream machine being built in Tustin

Pilot Alfred "Corky" Belanger checks out the controls in the cockpit of the Dragon Dream being built by Worldwide Aeros Corp. in the north blimp hanger in Tustin. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The Dragon Dream was designed with a few technical features to give it capabilities not found elsewhere in the logistics industry. Here are a few details about the airship:

•The airship uses diesel fuel, unlike most aircraft, which run on special aviation gas. Engineers didn't choose this fuel for its qualities, but because it's more available than special aviation fuels, making it easier for the airship to "tank up" in remote areas. Diesel, however, congeals in cold temperatures.

•What is it? While it's commonly called a "blimp," the airship doesn't meet that definition of that word. A blimp is a type of dirigible that gets its shape purely from the design of its skin and air pressure, much like a balloon. Dragon Dream, which has a sturdy aluminum and a carbon fiber hull, is a "rigid airship." A Zeppelin is a brand of airship, just like Ford is a brand of cars.

$35 million - in government funding

1 million - Cargo capacity, in pounds, of Worldwide Aeros Corp.'s biggest planned airship

Igor Pasternak knows what he's trying to do with his massive silvery airship, a handmade flying contraption that looks like it was ripped from a sci-fi movie.

"We're not proving anything, we're just changing the world," he said.

More specifically, he and his team from Worldwide Aeros Corp. are trying to change the way the world moves its stuff.

Their secret is in the nearly 300-foot-long airship they built in a blimp hangar in Tustin that they hope can create a new way to quickly and cheaply move things very long distances with no need for paved roads, rail lines or airports.

His airship, dubbed Dragon Dream, can go anywhere; it can land on any sort of terrain, just like a helicopter, but with much more cargo onboard.

The Physics used in the airship are similar to the physics used in a submarine, which also depends on ballast to dive and submerge. To lower the airship, its supply of helium gas is compressed into one of the specially designed tanks onboard while another tank is filled with regular air, which is comparatively heavier than helium. This extra weight makes the ship sink. To go up, the air is expunged and the helium is decompressed.

This Technology does two things. First, along with the rotating propellers on its sides, it allows the airship to take off and land straight up and down without assistance from a ground crew. Second, it allows the airship to unload cargo without the need for an exterior ballast supply.

Pasternak sees this as a breakthrough in logistics.

Typically, factory goods are loaded onto a truck and taken to a depot where they are loaded into metal freight boxes. From there, goods might be shipped on a train or put onto a ship for a trans-Pacific cruise. When the ship arrives in the United States, the process is reversed.

Aeros wants to streamline this chain by eliminating some of the links. For example, an airship could go directly to a factory in Asia to pick up goods and then drop them off at a depot in the U.S., where they could be shipped directly to a store.

And it also means that it can go where transportation infrastructure doesn't exist. For example, it can carry supplies to military forces in Afghanistan's mountains.

Aeros has taxied Dragon Dream and has done one brief flight inside the hangar and is planning to fly the ship around the former Marine Corps Air Facility in the coming months.

"After the flight test, we'll have a lot of the lessons learned," Pasternak said.

The team will use those lessons to help build the next airship, a model that's twice as large and can carry 66 tons of cargo. The project is funded with around $35 million from the Defense Department and NASA. Ultimately, the goal is to build airships that can carry 250 and 500 tons of cargo.

Until then, the group will use the dirigible in the Tustin hangar as much as possible.

"We'll test it until it breaks and then sell it on eBay in pieces," Pasternak said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2212 or

Education Links

User Agreement

Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement


Programs & Promotions
Business Directory
Ads by Google