Charles Luffman is an aeronautical engineer and airship specialist with over four decades of experience using lighter-than-air (LTA) principles for buoyant aircraft (BA) designs. He has held senior engineering roles across major aerospace and airship programmes. As the founder of Luffships, he leads the development of new lenticular omni-directional BA concepts (aerostats and airships) able to float in the atmosphere and use aerodynamic principles to fly as semi-buoyant aircraft for efficient pick and put duties practically anywhere.
His career has been defined by long-term involvement in airship and heavy-lift aviation, combining structural engineering, systems integration, and conceptual BA architecture. His work spans both established aerospace organisations and advanced, unconventional aircraft programmes focused on solving complex lift, control and logistics challenges.
Professional Experience: Charles began his career as a structural and stress engineer within the aerospace sector, working for Hawker Siddeley Aviation. He later joined Airship Industries, a British developer of non-rigid airships (blimps) where he held senior engineering positions during a period of renewed global interest in large airship platforms.
He went on to serve as Chief Engineer of the CL75 AirCrane programme at CargoLifter AG in Germany, a very big heavy-lift balloon to transport oversized industrial loads up to 75 tonne. This role placed him at the centre of one of the most ambitious BA projects undertaken in Europe, covering structural design, systems integration, and overall engineering leadership.
Following this work, Charles founded LTA Solutions, providing specialist engineering and conceptual design services using LTA principles for BA systems.
Luffships: Charles co-founded Luffships Limited (LSL), which he later fully took over to build on his decades of experience in airship structures, assisted lift concepts, and unconventional aircraft architectures, with the aim of delivering scalable, commercially relevant BA solutions.
Through Luffships, Charles has advanced a new generation of BA designs, with a particular focus on lenticular hull forms and omni-directional control. At Luffships, he leads the technical vision and concept development of aircraft intended for serious heavy-lift, infrastructure support, and operations in remote or logistically constrained environments.
Note: Luffships Buoyant Aircraft Ltd (LBA), which Charles founded 2024, is being repurposed as a subsidiary of LSL.
Publications & Professional Activity: Charles has written and lectured on BA design and remains active within professional aerospace circles. His interests extend to the broader applications of buoyant flight across transport, energy, and infrastructure systems.
Personal Note: Outside his engineering work, Charles maintains a long-standing interest in architecture and the history of aviation amongst other personal interests. He currently lives in Germany.
Contact: For further information about Charles or Luffships please send him a message using our contact form.