Central Washington Airport Hosts First Test Flight of Hydrogen-Powered Airliner
WA – The largest aircraft yet to fly on hydrogen-electric power made a successful first flight in Moses Lake, Washington, on Thursday. The maiden flight of a converted turboprop airliner offered a preview of one possible pathway to make your future flights more eco-friendly. Hydrogen fuel is one of several options the aviation industry is testing to reduce its carbon footprint, but the technology still attracts considerable skepticism. Test pilot Alex Kroll was at the controls of the De Havilland Dash 8-300 with a retrofitted hydrogen fuel cell powertrain when it was cleared for takeoff on a partly cloudy morning. Was he nervous? “It’s healthy to be a little nervous going into anything,” the ex-Air Force pilot said afterward. “But you’ve practiced and rehearsed well enough and frequently enough that you’re confident the system will perform.”
And perform it did. A co-pilot and flight engineer, Kroll ascended to 3,500 feet in the brightly painted, twin-engine commuter plane. They flew two wide-figure eights around the airfield before coming in for a smooth touchdown about 15 minutes later. A crowd of investors, ground crew, and about a dozen airline VIPs gathered beside the runway to watch. The more than 60 onlookers appeared to forget for a moment how cold the morning was as they heartily cheered the liftoff and landing. “It feels like a normal airplane,” Kroll said. “You hardly know the engine on the right has been modified.”
For the first flight, one of the Dash 8’s two motors was powered by hydrogen fuel cells while the other ran on regular jet fuel just to be safe. A California-based startup named Universal Hydrogen directed the conversion. The company removed seats in the back to make room for a compressed liquid hydrogen tank. The fuel cells combine hydrogen with air to produce electricity and water. The electricity powers the propeller. The only exhaust is water vapor. At a post-flight reception, Universal Hydrogen CEO Paul Eremenko lifted a glass to toast what he called “the beginning of a new golden age of aviation.” “Yeah, pretty friggin’ amazing,” he enthused the attendees before they clinked their champagne flutes. “I think we really witnessed something historical here.”
Eremenko said his company has an ambitious business plan to begin delivering converted twin-engine turboprops to regional airlines in late 2025. That assumes timely government certification of the new technology. A distinguishing feature of Universal Hydrogen’s offering is a modular fuel capsule that can be swapped in and out of an airliner fuselage to refuel without requiring new airport infrastructure. “In general, I would say the industry is not yet on board with hydrogen. So that was one of the reasons today was such a historic day,” Eremenko said in an interview Thursday. “I think the tide will turn. It will turn as we retire the risks, or the perceived risks, associated with hydrogen aviation — whether it is certification, hydrogen supply, or hydrogen logistics, passenger acceptance.”
Retired Boeing CEO Phil Condit is one of the skeptics. During a recent guest lecture at the University of Washington, he cast doubt on hydrogen. He cited inefficiencies in its production and distribution. Condit said he is most keen on biofuels for zero emissions flight because they are essentially a drop-in replacement for kerosene jet fuel. “I can put it in an airplane that exists today and run that airplane,” Condit said. “Can you get the costs down? That is the question.”