Keywords: USN Piasecki Helistat 1985.jpg Piasecki PA-97 Helistat Build with support of the U S Navy and U S Forest Service brainchild of Frank Piasecki this experimental heavy-lift aircraft combined a ZPG-2W blimp with main fuselages of four Sikorsky H-34J helicopters mounted in a rectangular arrangement on a frame beneath the gas envelope and designed to lift 26 tons Flight tests showed it to be so unstable as to be uncontrollable In fact it crashed at Lakehust New Jersey in July 1986 resulting in one fatality three serious and one minor injuries Source photo was dated 1985 PD-USGov Source U S Navy U S Government This picture may have usage restrictions Piasecki Heli-Stat 1985 in aviation in the United States |