ATLANTA — After three days shuttling back and forth between our Flightglobal office and the press rooms 300ft away at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, I finally got a chance on Thursday to wander through the exhibit halls at NBAA. I snapped and posted a bunch of photos on my phone as I trolled through Concourse B and C, but I spotted one item that deserved special attention.
Greenpoint Technologies, which is already supplying the Aeroloft overhead space utilization (OSU) on Boeing’s 747-8I VIP, has dreamed up an addition to the new jumbo that looks straight out of a James Bond Film.
We’ve all seen self-contained air stairs on jetliners such as Air Force One, MD-80s, 727s and 737s, but this takes the idea of a self-sufficient aircraft one step farther. Greenpoint has come up with an internal elevator that exits on the outside of the aircraft! Not surprisingly it’s called the Aerolift.
Greenpoint says they haven’t received orders for this option on any of the eight 747-8I VIP aircraft on order, but they are in talks with two customers about potentially having the elevator installed.
The company says the elevator would be certified only for use while on the ground, and would run off the aircraft’s internal power system without requiring an external ground cart. Before you snicker and ask how it could be used in flight, floor to floor elevators (that are certified for use in flight) are not uncommon and are used in commercial service to move galley contents or enable access to crew rest areas.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.