Airship in wood harvesting: the case of the FLYING WHALES’ LCA60T
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Forest is a treasure given by Nature with high environmental, economic and societal value. With growing demand on construction and increasing population, the global consumption of timber is estimated to rise. However, today’s logging activities remain largely manual, relying heavily on skidder and logging trucks, which require substantial investment in infrastructure. Consequently, it builds up the operational costs and creates destruction to the forest and its ecosystem to a certain degree. Much of the areas remain unexploited, notable on mountains. Furthermore, illegal logging remains a major cause to deforestation and forest degradation, urging forestry management organizations to increase measures to protect forest and preserve biodiversity.
In addressing the social, environmental, and economic problems, FLYING WHALES entered into partnership with the French National Forests Office (ONF) and brings forward a solution that facilitates logging operations while preserving forests. Alternative to current operating mode, the airship LCA60T debarks felled wood in hover mode and transports them to logistic platforms or directly to sawmills. The LCA60T airship allows harvesting even in remote areas, without needing to build new infrastructure or use existing ones. It supports wood construction by increasing harvest in a sustainable way. Moreover, it helps to better manage forest resources by gaining access to new harvest areas.
This paper discusses specifically the drawbacks and limitations of the current mode of operation by land infrastructure, and proposes two different modes of operations by airship, while providing pragmatic comparison between transport by land vs. air. Overall, the report aims at underlining LCA60T’s capabilities in forest exploitation and preservation, by giving a thorough examination of the today’s logging value chain and existing challenges and opportunities.
Keywords: sustainable forest management, airship, innovation, low-impact logging
ID: 3623692