Will Include Flight By Fuel Cell-Powered Aircraft
Among the most notable highlights coming to this year's AERO
Friedrichshafen expo in Germany is the inaugural "e-flight-expo" --
an event highlighting environmentally-friendly alternatives to
traditional gas-and-kerosene-fueled aircraft engines. At that
event, an ultralight aircraft by French company Helite will take to
the air exclusively propelled by hydrogen energy... without
supplementary energy supplied by batteries.
Weather permitting, the hydrogen plane will fly at the AERO
International Aviation Trade Show from April 2-5, 2009.
Together with the authors of the reference book "Flügel der
Welt", Messe Friedrichshafen created the new expo. The 'e' stands
for electrical, ecological and evolutionary, and defines the
world's first 'e-flight-expo', where the newest engineering
developments in modern, environmentally-friendly aviation
propulsion systems will be exhibited and demonstrated.
Along with electrical propulsion systems for small aircraft,
paragliders and hang-gliders, the aforementioned hydrogen-powered
aircraft will be presented, as well as a solar-power glider:
American Eric Raymond's Sunseeker, which has already completed well
over 500 flying hours and has crossed the United States in 21
stages. Solar technologies, new biofuels and high-performance
batteries will also be presented at AERO.
In April 2008,
Boeing surprised the world with a 20-minute maiden flight
of a power glider powered by a fuel cell. While
Boeing's first manned hydrogen-powered experimental aircraft
(diagramed below) relied on additional energy from an auxiliary
battery for take-off and landing, Gérard Thevenot of Helite
will fly his ultralight without battery assistance.
"Unlike the Boeing project, our hydrogen-powered plane is an
extremely light aircraft, weighing less than 160 kg including the
pilot," reports Thevenot. "This allows us to fly for the first time
only with a fuel cell and without any auxiliary batteries. This is
a world first!"
The one-seater ultralight trike is equipped with a 7 kW hydrogen
propulsion system and weighs only 55 kg with a 5 liter hydrogen
tank. The airfoil of just under 14 square meters (resembling a kind
of hang-glider flying dragon) has a 12 meter wingspan and weighs 35
kg. Fuel consumption during the propulsion trial at 100 m above sea
level was measured at 550 grams per flying hour on average. The
only resulting emission is steam.
The Helite ultralight will not be the only fuel cell aircraft at
AERO. Two other aviation projects from Germany and Italy will
demonstrate the feasibility of hydrogen propulsion. The University
of Stuttgart will present its Hydrogenius project, a two-seater
ultralight power glider made of fiber-strengthened synthetic
material.
It is based on a series production aircraft made by Slovenian
aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel, and has a wing span of 18 meters.
The aircraft is equipped with a 60 kW hydrogen propulsion system
located in the tail unit. Meanwhile, the Technical University of
Turin will present its SkySparks fuel cell project, whose first
flight is also scheduled for 2009.
"As a base model, we have selected a high-performance ultralight
aircraft called the Pioneer made by Italian manufacturer Alpi
Aviation," says Project Director Paolo Maggiore from the Technical
University of Turin. Its hydrogen propulsion system, which will be
presented at AERO, produces 62 kW and weighs 30 kg.
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