How Ukrainian inventor made a revolutionary airship for the Pentagon

Igor Pasternak in his office in Los Angeles. Photo by Julia Bunyak

Igor Pasternak, who left Lviv at the beginning of 90, built a multimillion dollar business in the United States. And then, by order of the Pentagon, he designed an airship capable of carrying hundreds of tons of cargo and even being a heavenly hotel or an air amusement park.

“My story could only happen in the States. This would be impossible in any other country in the world,” reflects Igor Pasternak, a former Soviet engineer and now the founder and head of the American company Worldwide Eros, headquartered in Los Angeles. Annual turnover is $15 million, staff is about 100 people.

It is now about his invention of shooting programs on the History Channel and write to the New York Times. And in the 1994 year, he just came to the United States with huge ambitions. Could count only on himself. And good luck.

Ignorance is power

Pasternak began his first business in creating balloons for meteorological observations and advertising in the USSR during perestroika, a student, a graduate of Lviv Polytechnic. The young businessman managed to arrange the work so that his products were in demand even in Germany, Poland and Russia.

After the collapse of the Union, having experienced all the delights of gangster 90's, Igor went to the USA after his parents and sister. He was 30 years old.

He wanted to continue to build airships and balloons. Together with his sister and several close friends he founded the company Worldwide Aeros.

The most important thing was to find the first customer. Behind him, he went to Washington, to beat the offices of potential customers. “Only recently the Berlin Wall fell, the dust was still standing. To the Soviet inhabitants in America were treated as enemies of the people.

I came with a translator, I myself speak Russian. And they ask me: “Are you an American company?” I say: yes. "Well, then everything is fine, we will deal with you."

So the company received the first customer for the balloon.

True, the money from the first order ran out quite quickly. Funds were still needed to develop the business. Pasternak decided to apply to the bank for a loan. He had neither a residence permit, nor a credit history, nor any particular experience of doing business in the States. “Today I know that this is impossible. 20 years ago I didn’t understand this,” says the businessman.

Igor Pasternak and his team. Photo of the press service of Worldwide Aeros

But newcomers are lucky - Pasternak persuaded a local congressman to give him a letter of recommendation and translated a certificate from the Ukrainian tax service into English. I went to the bank with these documents and got a loan.

People say that when they developed their business, they suffered, they did not sleep at night, they beat their heads against the wall. They lie, bastards. It is very, very easy. If you do not know that this is impossible, you do what you need.

These words of his - in fact, the recipe for success of Igor Pasternak in the states.

The first ten years of the company's existence, not everything went smoothly. Customers and money were sometimes there, sometimes not. “You always know that after depression there will be a moment when everything will be fine. And when everything is good, you know for sure that it will be bad,” the businessman philosophizes.

And he really believes in luck. “This brute, luck comes knocking when, as a rule, you are not in the office. Therefore, in order not to miss a good opportunity, you must live in the office 24 hours,” says Pasternak.

— So you work around the clock?

- I have fun around the clock.

— Is this entertainment that makes money?

- Of course, otherwise it’s work. And there is another secret. I could not get those projects that did not come from my heart.

Igor Pasternak and US President Barack Obama. Photos from Facebook Igor Pasternak

American Dream

The main money Igor Pasternak earns on balloons and airships. Aircraft are used for advertising and tourism, meteorological observations, video surveillance and television. One of the airships assembled by Pasternak even provided air safety at the UEFA Cup in Portugal.

The penultimate model, Aeros 40D Sky Dragon, was bought by a Mexican company to monitor oil pipelines. Earlier, a similar airship acquired the Thai government - the military use it for anti-terrorism activities.

One of the balloons, made by Igor Pasternak. Press Office Worldwide Aeros

Making millions on aerostats, Pasternak never left his dream: to create a hybrid airship that could carry cargo in 250-500 tons.

For comparison - 250 tons can take on board the largest cargo plane in the world, An-225 "Mriya", built at the Kiev factory Antonov in a single copy.

Pasternak jokes that he, like Mendeleev, had his epiphany at night, only not in a dream, but as a result of insomnia. “I got bored, I took paper, a pen and started writing. And so he invented the system,” recalls the businessman.

In fact, on that night of 2002, Igor Pasternak came up with a new way of raising and landing airships.

Traditionally, they need a large ground crew, which, when landed, ties the airship with ropes to ground objects, and unloads them during takeoff. Invented by Igor airship Aeroscraft Dragon Dream sits down and takes off itself. It does not need an area to disperse, it rises vertically, like a helicopter.

We have always had a reputation for crazy people who do what everyone says is impossible to do,” boasts Igor Pasternak.

“Igor is distinguished by an amazing feature: he does not see restrictions, prohibitions or other obstacles to the implementation of his plans. Everything he comes up with at first seems either like a fantasy or a goal that takes years to reach, overcoming thousands of obstacles. But he doesn’t think so” - in an interview Forbes Pasternak described his old friend Alexei Reznikov, secretary of the Kiev City Council.

Military order

In 2013, Pasternak built a prototype of Aeroscraft, designed for a load capacity of 66 tons, a length of 64 meters. He went to him for a long eleven years.

In 2005, Worldwide Eros won a tender conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA, associated with the Pentagon. It was interested in creating air transport with a carrying capacity of 500-1000 tons. The company that could create it would receive a 30-year contract to supply this type of transport to the US Army. The cargo airship project developed by Pasternak was recognized as the best. He had to compete with Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman Corporation - the largest American aircraft manufacturing corporations.

However, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman Corporation are not focused solely on building airships. This is explained by the fact that airships are a fairly niche product, the demand for which is limited.

"Similar [designed by Pasternak] airships have their application, but it is quite narrow," - said the publication The New York Times your doubts Chris Caplines from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

At 2009 Worldwide, Aeros received a contract from the Pentagon at 50 million dollars to develop a prototype airship.

Normal flight

In the fall of 2013, the first test flight took place. Igor Pasternak, together with the pilot, was in the cabin of the airship. All tests passed perfectly: Aeroscraft Dragon Dream with the cargo took off and flew at a low altitude for more than half an hour, then landed safely.

In 2013, the prototype of a cargo airship designed by Igor Pasternak took off. Photo of the press service of Worldwide Aeros

Igor Pasternak was on board the airship during the test in 2013. Photo of the press service of Worldwide Aeros

History Channel took off single episode the “Rise Of The Machines” show dedicated to Aeroscraft tests.

The Pentagon confirmed the success of Pasternak’s invention.

And then the designer waited trouble. Just a few months after the test, the roof of the hangar from the Second World War, in which the prototype of the airship was standing, collapsed. The first and only Aeroscraft Dragon Dream is destroyed. Now it can be seen only in the photo and video.

Naturally, Pasternak is not discouraged and is in talks with both military and commercial potential customers interested in creating a cargo airship. Among them again appears the Pentagon.

In total, over the past 10 years, Pasternak has been able to conclude more than 20 contracts with the US military to supply balloons and airships for observation. The company earned about $ 80 million for them.

The Curse of Hinderburg

The heyday of the airship came in the first third of the twentieth century. They were widely used during the First World War, and thanks to the development of the German inventor Count von Zepellin could carry more cargo than the small aircraft of the time. At the end of the 19th century, the Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed his own project of a large cargo airship of rigid construction, but it was never implemented.

The use of airships for civilian needs has stalled due to several plane crashes. The loudest of them occurred in 1937, in the American city of Lakehurst, where the luxurious passenger ship, the Hindenburg, caught fire during landing and took the life of a 36 man.

The cause of the accident in this and many other cases was explosive, but cheap hydrogen. Instead of expensive but safe helium, it was pumped into the airship to make it lighter than air.

During the construction of modern airships exclusively inert helium is used, which removes the risk of fire. However, pays attention New York Times, the airships will have to face the problem of their perception for a long time, because “no one wants to be at another Hindenburg.”

At Worldwide Aeros Corp. they see many areas in which their Aeroscraft can be used: from the transport of military goods or the delivery of assistance to disaster areas to air hotels and even amusement parks.

As planned, the first airship on 66 tons will be built in 2017 year, and its fellow with a capacity of 250 tons - a year later. The company plans not to sell them, but to rent. The first is for 25 million dollars a year, the second is for 55 million dollars.

How does Aeroscraft Dragon Dream

Takeoff and landing - vertical, like a helicopter. Inside the body of the airship there are nine pairs of huge containers (yellow cylinders in the picture) made of a secret material with compressed helium - a gas that is lighter than air.

The material from which the yellow cylinders are made is kept a huge secret. Still from the program “Rise of machines”, History Channel

To lift helium is pumped inside the airship, it becomes lighter than air and takes off. To descend, helium is again compressed and pumped into cylinders.

Still from the program “Rise of machines”, History Channel

No additional ballast is used. for flight or compensation of the removed freight. The airship becomes lighter than air only when it is needed, using the technology of internal ballast. Ballonet (green in the picture) helps to stabilize the airship.

Still from the program “Rise of machines”, History Channel

Manages airship one pilot with joystick.

In the airship whard metal skeleton fastenings - like those of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The cables are connected in the form of triangles, which ensures strength.

The airship's frame is modeled after the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Still from the History Channel program “Rise of the machines”

There are three engines inside the airship, with 6 th cylinders, each horsepower in 300. These are advanced engines from race cars that reduce vibration, not allowing the airship to collapse.

One of the engines. Still from the program “Rise of machines”, History Channel

The airship can land anywhere thanks to pillows and unload in the air. It can also hang in the air, the transport container is simply separated in minutes.

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