UK sustainable aviation company ZeroAvia this month completed a 10-flight test series from involving a Dorner 228 running a hydrogen-electric powerplant.
The test program was conducted from ZeroAvia's UK home at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire.
The Dornier test bed was equipped with one conventional turbo-prop engine and one ZeroAvia ZA600 hydrogen-electric power system, enabling engineers to evaluate the two systems when operating together, and at times run on only the experimental engine.
Hydrogen-electric engines use hydrogen in fuel cells to generate electricity, which is then used to power electric motors. The only emission is low temperature water.
Results showed theZA600 system was able to match the power output of the conventional turbo-prop.
“Zero-emission flight technologies are moving from promise to delivery and our amazing team is leading the way with this testing programme," said Val Miftakhov, Founder and CEO, ZeroAvia.
"We do not have to push the unappealing choices on passengers of paying more or flying less to deliver climate conscious air travel. We instead can adopt this technology quickly to reduce climate impact and air pollution.”
The six-month test program included a cruise test to establish projections for future ranges, paving the way for the next testing phase to include cross-country flights.
ZeroAvia's test campaign has seen the aircraft fly at 5000 feet, perform an endurance test at 23 minutes and operate in a temperature range from just above freezing to almost 30oC.
“Plenty of people go through 40 year careers without marking their name in the history books of aerospace engineering," said Gabriele Teofili, Head of Aircraft Integration and Testing.
"I’m so proud that so many of the team at ZeroAvia can say that they have done that already with this first phase of test flights.
"This Dornier 228 will now always have a place in our hearts, but we’re excited to take it on its next adventure and head further afield.”