Atlas Aerospace Liftmaster

[turboshaft]

Another of those freighter designs from the late 1990s and early 2000s that never made it off the design board (in common with the Ayres LM200 Loadmaster, American Utilicraft FF-1080 and AeroCourier). The project was referenced in passing in a previous thread by Hesham on the topic of twin boom aircraft, but I'm creating a dedicated thread here, prompted by today's news regarding the launch of the Cessna 408 SkyCourier (which - like the Liftmaster - is based around a payload of three LD3s, and powered by two PT6As).

Flight: Atlas Liftmaster gains funding (2001)
St. Petersburg Times: Cargo plane carries high hopes (2001)
AIN: In The Works: Atlas Aerospace Liftmaster (2008)

 

[hesham]

Good idea Turboshaft.

 

[Dynoman]

Founding company, AITI, an aircraft instrumentation company in Zephyrhills, FL, was the parent company of Atlas Aerospace, which developed the Liftmaster concept. The company received City and State grants to build a facility to employ 60 people to construct the first prototype. Unfortunately, the need for approximately $2 million to finance the project was hard to acquire and the company suffered losses into the recession era when the project was abandoned. Jim Stewart, designer of the Stewart S-51 scaled P-51 and the EAA Bi-Plane, was the chief designer for Atlas. AITI went on to continue its instrumentation work and offered an RPV design for wildlife surveillance.