ZeroAvia has announced it has completed its initial testing campaign of its prototype ZA600 hydrogen-electric engine on retrofitted aircraft at Cotswold Airport.
This campaign has seen 10 flights taking place, with the final one seeing a cruise test take place, helping to establish projections of future ranges using the hydrogen-electric system. Running over the last six months, the campaign has seen tests carried out on different areas of performance, following the world-first flight of the system in January.
This has seen flights at 5,000 feet, an endurance test of 23 minutes, operation in the wider temperature range from just above freezing through to 30ºC and reaching the maximum allowable speed under the Permit to Fly issued by the Civil Aviation Authority. In all phases, the fuel cell power generation and electric propulsion system has “performed at or above expectations”. Cross-country flights will now take place during the next stage of testing and demonstration.
Val Miftakhov, Founder and CEO of ZeroAvia, said: “Zero-emission flight technologies are moving from promise to delivery and our amazing team is leading the way with this testing programme. We do not have to push the unappealing choices on passengers of paying more or flying less to deliver climate conscious air travel. We instead can adopt this technology quickly to reduce climate impact and air pollution.”
