Universal Hydrogen has been granted a special airworthiness certificate in the experimental category by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the first flight of its hydrogen-powered regional aircraft.
The FAA sign-off “clears the way for the first flight of the Dash 8-300 flying testbed which will take place at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington”, the company said.
The flight will make the aircraft “by far the largest hydrogen fuel cell-powered airplane to take to the skies”, according to Universal Hydrogen, and second only to the 1988 USSR flight test of a Tupolev Tu-155 which had a jet engine converted to burn hydrogen.
The company said it carried out successful first taxi tests of the aircraft, which were “designed to evaluate ground handling qualities and the performance of the fuel-cell electric powertrain at low power settings and airspeeds”.
The Dash 8-300 flying testbed has a megawatt-class hydrogen fuel cell powertrain installed in one of its nacelles, the company said, and “does not utilise a hybrid battery architecture—a major innovation—with all of the power transmitted directly from the fuel cells to the electric motor, significantly decreasing weight and lifecycle cost”
“We are simultaneously providing a pragmatic, near-term solution for hydrogen infrastructure and delivery, as well as for converting existing passenger aircraft to use this lightweight, safe, and true-zero-emissions fuel,” said Paul Eremenko, co-founder and chief executive of Universal Hydrogen.