HYBRID AIRSHIPS feature LHM-1 subtitle Watch the video here! Nicknamed “ferry boats of the sky,” airships have huge potential in the Canadian North, where they could regularly deliver passengers, supplies and services to isolated areas. The LHM-1 can operate from unimproved landing zones, on ice, or on water . No Roads? In just a few years, hybrid airships could be playing an integral role in Canada’s transportation infrastructure. By Howard Slutsken | Images courtesy of Lockheed Martin uzanne was in desperate need of a follow-up MRI. Last time, she’d had to endure multiple flights and an all-day trip from her Nunavut village to Montreal for her scan. But today, she and her neighbours watched in awe as a massive, brilliant white hybrid airship slowly approached her village’s frozen harbour. The airship touched down gently on its air-cushion landing gear, stopping right by the shore. This afternoon, the medical professionals in the airship’s fully-equipped imaging clinic would welcome Suzanne for her MRI appointment, steps from her home. This isn’t science fiction. In just a few years, hybrid airships could be providing services like this to Canada’s North, helping to solve decades- long infrastructure challenges. With the ability to fly from point-to-point and needing minimal ground handling, hybrid airships can operate in ways other forms of transportation would find impossible. “The biggest problem we have in the Canadian Arctic is transportation. S 90 SKIES Magazine It limits the economy. It limits growth, and it limits the opportunities for the people there,” said Dr. Grant Cool during an interview with Skies. Cool is chief operating officer of Hybrid Enterprises, the exclusive worldwide reseller of Lockheed Martin’s LHM-1 hybrid airship. “I grew up there and lived in those communities,” said Cool, who now resides in Edmonton. “They’ve been working for years to get all- season roads to go to communities and to the mines. And besides the environmental impact issues, the real reason they don’t have [roads] is because the economy isn’t big enough. “But for a moment, use your imagination and put a number of hybrid airships into a place like Yellowknife, and then use them to expand the economy. They go every day, they move constantly, they’re reliable, with trips to every community, to every project, to every mine site—they’re there all the time,” said Cool. “We call them ‘ferry boats of the sky.’”