Transport committee  First of all, you would be able to serve every community up there with the airships. There is no community in Manitoba that would not be served if that were the case. There would still be some community ice roads built, but they may not have to be built to the outside. The people who live there take advantage of the winter to visit their relatives in the communities.

Transport committee  First of all, I should tell you that, by training, I'm a transportation economist. I love trains. I love roads. I love all modes of transport, so I have no particular bias, but each one has its benefits. The merits of trains are for very high volumes and very long distances. For moving coal, grain, or potash, there's nothing that will compete with a train, and we should always use trains.

Transport committee  Lockheed Martin built and flew a prototype vehicle actually some three or four years ago.

Transport committee  Well, they were looking for this military contract, and everybody thought they were going to get it, and then surprisingly they did not. Northrop Grumman got it.

Transport committee  No, they still have it and they continue to do research on it. In fact a business in Calgary has been talking with them. I don't know the status of that, but they've looked at a civilian model of it as a possibility. But they certainly have continued to refine that vehicle since that time.

Transport committee  At this point, it is.

Transport committee  Although the Lockheed Martin vehicle has been built and flown, so in some ways it's more advanced. It's more proven.

Transport committee  That's a very good question, and I guess that's part of the reason I don't see people lining up to make the investment: they don't know, and we can't guarantee this. In fact, we can't even guarantee at this point when we would do this, when we would get started under the current situation.

Transport committee  I wish I could tell you the experts in Transport Canada were further along on this and would have those numbers, but quite frankly they haven't done the work to find out, so they don't have any advice for us. If you look across the country to find out who's done work on it, it's pretty much the University of Manitoba.

Transport committee  The way the regulations read is that you have to—

Transport committee  The regulations would have to be changed. The U.S. regulations are something like 50 hours on an airship after you have a fixed-wing aircraft pilot licence, and 10 of those hours have to be on an actual airship. The other 40 could be in a simulator. I believe that's what the U.S. regulations are.

Transport committee  It's more than just talk, but maybe Stu would have the information better than I do.

Transport committee  The only place right now where you can actually get an airship pilot's licence is in San Francisco. There's a company there that does this. But it's very expensive. Of course, that licence would not be respected here, because it's not a hot air balloon licence. You would have to do that first.

Transport committee  Oh, sorry, maintenance—

Transport committee  Maintenance is relatively low. Typically you're looking at using diesel engines, which are low maintenance. The airframe is obviously not an issue. You do have to have an inspection. Those ten days you're spending in the hangar include seven days for an annual end-to-end inspection.