A zeroAvia, today (19) took to the skies, the largest aircraft in the world to date powered by a hydrogen-powered engine.
The aircraft responsible for the feat was a 228-seat Dornier 19, nicknamed the HyFlyer II. THE plane has a special adaptation on the wings, with the 600kW hydrogen engine (ZA600) located on the left wing, while Honeywell TPE-331 is on the right wing.
The flight test campaign is aimed at certification of a license to fly through strict British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) requirements. Signifying a maturity of the company's processes and design approaches and its proposal to proceed with a complete commercial certification of its hydrogen engines.
The HyFlyer II program has incentives from the UK Government, which s the development of zero carbon emission engines, more specifically for aircraft with 9 to 19 seats. Now, ZeroAvia should finalize the certification of the ZA600 still in 2023, which is fundamental to unfold the development of the same technology for larger aircraft, with up to 90 seats.
ZeroAvia will now work towards its certified configuration in order to deliver the new technology on small commercial aircraft with the new technology by 2025. Until then, the Dornier 228 will perform a series of flights from Kemble, including demonstrations in other airports.
With today's historic flight, ZeroAvia completed yet another significant commercial milestone, including an engine order from American Airlines and a partnership agreement with Textron Aviation. With 1.500 pre-sale engines, ZeroAvia has agreements with 7 aircraft manufacturers, fuel companies and airports around the world.
Two years ago, ZeroAvia performed the first flight with a hydrogen engine (250kW) with a Piper Malibu.
