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Canadian Operations Millennium Airship will operate two wholly owned subsidiaries in Canada which will be the major hubs for western and eastern Canada. The western hub will be located in Edmonton, Alberta, and the eastern hub will be in Churchill, Manitoba. Each of these companies will operate self sufficient subsidiaries to market, operate and maintain the aircraft in their regions. In addition, they will have flight centers located further north from which aircraft will be staged to the areas where goods and services are needed.
The Edmonton operation will be
incorporated into an existing plan called Port Alberta.
Port Alberta is staged to become the new
gateway for cargo transportation combining air, rail, and road
transportation infrastructure at a single point �
Edmonton International Airport.
Port Alberta � where opportunity, location and potential combine to provide cost-effective, superior manufacturing, distribution and supply chain management networks for both cargo and passenger traffic. MAS has already had preliminary discussions with the Edmonton International Airport authorities about being located within the airport area and the reception has been exciting. MAS is in the process of forming teaming arrangements with freight forwarding companies and investment groups to form the nucleus of the Canadian operation. Flight Operations It is the intent of MAS to either acquire all or portions of one of the few existing air vehicle flight operation companies that currently exist. That decision will only be made once we have gathered more specific flight characteristics and operational expectations from our engineering staff. It is a high probability that our flight operation arm will be created from the ground up as this type and use of our air vehicles is so different from those currently in existence. Upon funding, MAS will immediately begin trade studies identifying those elements in existence for small or medium size airline flight operations that would fit our business model. That model being the slow build-up of air vehicles over an extended period of years, with as high as 10 operational air vehicles by the end of the first year of commercial operation to 100 operational air vehicles at the end of the first five years. As we have expectations of needing 3 flight crews per air vehicle (pilot, co-pilot and load master) to meet our expectations of a minimum of sixty percent (60%) in-flight operations, we know that we will be needing to build a robust pilot training and certification program. However this program cannot be developed without working hand in hand with Lockheed Martin during the final production design, production build and initial flight test programs. The long-term plan is to have a central training facility co-located with our first Depot Maintenance Facility where we would bring our new air vehicles in for �sea trials� and flight certification for that air vehicle and crews. This facility would include a simulator, crew training classrooms and housing facilities.
Freight Operations Working closely with our existing freight operations partners, we would identify a logical and logistically acceptable location from which to stage our freight uploading activities. As we believe that the customer base already exists in Canada for using our freight moving system, we only need to direct the goods needing transport to our central loading facility. It would be best if this could be co-located with the Depot Maintenance facility in the event an air vehicle needs un-planned maintenance that cannot be accomplished while in flight or at a remote landing sight. Load Master training and certification will be required. It will be co-located at our Depot Maintenance and Flight Training Operations center. We will have a mock-up of the cargo bay that can be re-located to different styles of landing sites for as realistic training scenarios as possible. Styles of landing sites:
Field Maintenance Activities Upon funding, MAS will begin discussions with Lockheed Martin on what types of preventive maintenance activities can be accomplished while in flight or while the air vehicle is on-loading or off-loading freight. These types of activities will be based on final flight system hardware selections and can be discussed and planned during the initial months after Lockheed go ahead. These activities are important to know early in the program as we negotiate final warranty specifications for our air vehicles. MAS will also identify and create maintenance documents for emergency repair operations for major flight control system that may need repair whether in-flight, at a remote site or at an emergency-landing site. Until final production drawings are complete, this activity can be discussed and planned but entirely defined.
Depot Maintenance Activities Early discussions indicate that each air vehicle will need four weeks of yearly maintenance activities at a Depot facility. As production drawings are complete, production and flight certification programs mature, the duration may fluctuate one direction or other (less time is best for us as an operator as this allows us to be moving freight). At this juncture, MAS has planned for a depot facility that will work a two-shift operation that would cut the time an air vehicle is in preventive maintenance to no more than two weeks. The most important element in depot planning is how much maintenance must be done in the hanger VICE tied down next to the facility. Obviously, the less hanger time an air vehicle would need, the larger the number of air vehicles one hanger could manage in a 12-month period. Preliminary concept design of this facility has been developed but will not be matured until final design of the HHLAV is complete. With flight test and air vehicle certification estimated to be complete no sooner than the end of 2010, there is adequate time to plan, secure land and permits and have this depot facility ready for the first deployed air vehicles. Proceed to key events timeline: |
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