Largest hydrogen-electric test-bed aircraft to date makes successful first flight

Zero-emissions aviation company ZeroAvia conducted, on Thursday afternoon, the first test flight of the biggest aircraft to date powered by a hydrogen-electric engine. The aircraft was a Dornier Do 228 19-seater passenger aircraft, modified into a test bed, with one of its two turboprop engines replaced by a ZeroAvia hydrogen-electric powertrain. A UK-US enterprise, ZeroAvia conducted the flight at Cotswold Airport in England. The flight lasted ten minutes and involved the aircraft taxiing, taking off, flying a full circuit and landing again. Retaining a conventional Honeywell TPE-331 turboprop engine on its starboard (right) wing, the company’s 600 kW hydrogen-electric power unit was fitted to its port (left) wing. The enterprise reported that all systems “performed as expected”.