Starting November 6th 2020 the visionary hydrogen fuel cell driven Hy4 passenger plane took its first 35 take offs with the new, 6th generation propulsion system. During 2 weeks of test campaign, flights of up to two hours showed powertrain functionality and delivered valuable test data. Since the project start in 2017, the MAHEPA consortium has been working on a collection of new green technologies.
Upscaling of green technology
An important technological achievement of MAHEPA is the elaboration of first qualification test procedures for hydrogen fuel cell aircraft. The special powertrain architecture implemented and tested in the world`s first hydrogen fuel cell-powered four-seat passenger aircraft showed not only functionality, but it proved that the new, full redundant and modular architecture can be used to upscale fuel cell technology to MW scale. This is the right track in the direction of commercial aircraft adaptation. Thus, the encouraging technological achievements can be used in future activities to ensure the lead of European funded projects.
Teamwork at its best
Several engineers, scientists and economists from overall Europe took on the responsibility to make a change and succeeded in bringing Europe one step closer to a more sustainable aviation. Only the perfect interaction and cooperation between European H2020 project MAHEPA and multiple national programs enabled this fast and successful development ensuring a step further towards a cleaner environment and better living.