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 A Russian company - the Augur Aeronautical Centre - has completed a set of certification tests of the AeroLift aerostatic attraction.
After the AeroLift is put it into commercial operation, in the nearest future it will become one of the showplaces of the legendary town of Pompeii and give all visitors a chance to enjoy a birds-eye view from 150 meters altitude. Operation experience of such attractions has been showing their profitability for two seasons now.
 Over a century ago, a French inventor Henri Jiffar gave life to commercial ballooning. He built an aerostatic attraction, which lifted spectators up to 500 meters high and then took them down. The project proved to be profitable and subsequently was spread all over the world.
From 1935 till 1937, an aeronautic station under direction of a famous airship-builder E. D. Karamyshev (1888-1938) worked in the Gorky Park of Moscow. Three observation balloons were unceasingly taking up to 18 passengers 150 - 200 meters high above the ground.
In the beginning of the 1990-s, a French company Aerophile applied Jiffars idea offering spectators a panorama of French landscapes from a basket of a tethered aerostat. Commercial success of the project exceeded all expectations. Per Lindstrands well-known company took the initiative and created a whole worldwide net of the similar attractions: in the USA, Brazil, Sweden and other countries.
The AeroLifts construction employs the most optimal engineering solutions. Thus, unlike its foreign counterparts of such type, to hold the basket the AeroLift does not need a net, but uses traditional for Russian aeronautics catenary belts made according to special technologies.
The spherical aerostat and its passenger basket are held by a cable-tether, which has a holding capacity of up to 40 tons.
The envelope filled with the non-explosive gas helium has a volume of 3,200 cubic meters. Owing to RF-welding of the envelope parts made of a special material and other innovative technologies, the continuous service life of the aerostat exceeds three years. The envelope material has been designed in Russia, but due to a score of reasons is produced in the USA by the General Aeronautics Company, which guarantees the highest reliability of its operation during a decade.
 In AeroLift, the Augurs designers and engineers have implemented a number of untraditional solutions increasing safety of people and the aerostat. They include - together with the special alarm device - systems of pressure control and mobile gas refilling, a double system of winch control, an emergency drive, a free-flight system and possibility to install a parachute system of collective security.
The Russian aerostatic attraction has a significant advantage over its western analogues: it is much cheaper - about 30-40% - keeping the same level of reliability and safety.
The Augur Aeronautical Centre has been working in the international market of aerostatic technologies for over 10 years and aquired an immaculate reputation. A team of high-class experts, by dependable and competent fulfilling of their tasks, has proved its professionalism and the right to take the leading position in the industry. The realization of the AeroLift project may well be named a landmark in the Russian aeronautics.
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