FeaturedNews

UK CAA gives ZeroAvia green light for next phase of hydrogen-electric test flights

The UK’s Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty (CAA) has grant­ed ZeroAvia’s Dornier 228 air­craft a per­mit to fly, which has been retro­fit­ted with a pro­to­type hydro­gen-elec­tric pow­er­train. ZeroAvia secured the per­mit fol­low­ing exten­sive ground tests and a rig­or­ous review of the devel­op­ment pro­gram.

Claim­ing to be the leader in zero-emis­sion avi­a­tion, ZeroAvia can now begin test flights of its 600kW hydro­gen-elec­tric pow­er­train. The 19-seat twin-engine air­craft has been retro­fit­ted in an engi­neer­ing test­bed con­fig­u­ra­tion to incor­po­rate ZeroAvia’s hydro­gen-elec­tric engine pow­er­ing the pro­pel­lor on its left wing, oper­at­ing along­side a sin­gle Hon­ey­well TPE-331 stock engine on the right for redun­dan­cy to allow safe test­ing of the propul­sion tech­nol­o­gy.

The test flights are set to be a land­mark achieve­ment for ZeroAvia and the HyFly­er II project, a major R&D pro­gram backed by the UK Government’s Aero­space Tech­nol­o­gy Insti­tute (ATI) pro­gramme for the devel­op­ment of a 600kW hydro­gen-elec­tric pow­er­train for 9–19 seat air­craft.

ZeroAvia has worked with the CAA in meet­ing a far more strin­gent set of require­ments when com­pared to the E‑Conditions frame­work ZeroAvia had used for its 6‑seat pro­to­type in 2020.

Part 21 is an indus­try-stan­dard term used to describe the reg­u­la­to­ry approval of air­craft design and pro­duc­tion orga­ni­za­tions, and the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of prod­ucts, parts, and appli­ances for air­craft. Secur­ing this per­mit to fly is a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in ZeroAvia’s path towards com­mer­cial­iza­tion.

ZeroAvia founder & CEO Val Mif­takhov said: “Earn­ing our full Part 21 per­mit to fly with the CAA is a crit­i­cal mile­stone as we devel­op a zero-emis­sion avi­a­tion propul­sion sys­tem that will be the most envi­ron­men­tal and eco­nom­i­cal solu­tion to the industry’s cli­mate impact.

“It will pave the way for a com­mer­cial­ly cer­ti­fi­able con­fig­u­ra­tion for ZA600 to be sub­mit­ted by the end of 2023, ahead of deliv­er­ing pow­er­trains for the first com­mer­cial routes for 9–19 seat air­craft to com­mence by 2025.”

ZeroAvia has 1,500 engines under pre-order, part­ner­ships with sev­en air­craft man­u­fac­tur­ers and mul­ti­ple fuel and air­port part­ner­ships. When test flights begin in Jan­u­ary, ZeroAvia’s Dornier 228 test­bed is expect­ed to become the largest air­craft to fly using a hydro­gen-elec­tric pow­er­train.

Last Novem­ber, ZeroAvia agreed to explore the devel­op­ment of hydro­gen fuel infra­struc­ture with AGS Air­ports, includ­ing reg­u­la­to­ry frame­work require­ments and resourc­ing required for deliv­er­ing zero-emis­sion flights from Aberdeen and Glas­gow air­ports.

The pre­vi­ous month, ZeroAvia acquired lead­ing fuel cell stack inno­va­tor HyPoint, whose advanced high-tem­per­a­ture fuel cell tech­nol­o­gy for increas­ing pow­er out­put and ener­gy den­si­ty of avi­a­tion fuel cell pow­er­trains will add to ZeroAvia’s exper­tise in devel­op­ing the full pow­er­train to enable hydro­gen-elec­tric flight.

Avatar photo

Jason Pritchard

Jason Pritchard is the Editor of eVTOL Insights. He holds a BA from Leicester's De Montfort University and has worked in Journalism and Public Relations for more than a decade. Outside of work, Jason enjoys playing and watching football and golf. He also has a keen interest in Ancient Egypt.

eVTOL Insights is part of the Industry Insights Group. Registered in the UK. Company No: 14395769