Universal Hydrogen Co. is developing a hydrogen logistics network to power aviation in the future. The company recently completed flying a 40-passenger regional airliner using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion. Lightning McClean (nickname of the flight) took off from Grant County International Airport (KMWH) and flew for 15 minutes at 8:41 AM PST, reaching 3,500 meters above mean sea level (MSL). The airplane was the first flight in a two-year flight test campaign under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate. A two-year flight test campaign is anticipated to culminate in 2025 by introducing hydrogen-powered ATR 72 regional aircraft into passenger service.
Connect Airlines and Amelia, respectively, the US and European launch customers for the hydrogen airplanes were present to witness the historic flight. In addition, the company has a rapidly expanding order book, which currently consists of 247 aircraft conversions from 16 customers globally, summing to more than $1 billion in conversions backlog and more than $2 billion in fuel services over the first ten years of operation.
During this first test flight, one of the aircraft's turbine engines was replaced with a fuel cell-electric, megawatt-class powertrain from Universal Hydrogen. While keeping the other a conventional engine for flight safety, Alex Kroll, an experienced former US Air Force test pilot and the company's chief test pilot, piloted the flight.
The company's powertrain is based on the ProGen family of aviation-modified fuel cells from Plug Power. The unique feature of the design is that the powertrain uses fuel cells to drive the electric motor directly, drastically reducing weight and cost instead of using the battery. Everett-based magniX provided the engine, a modified magni650 electric propulsion unit, and the power electronics. In addition, Seattle-based AeroTEC helped with engineering work, such as designing the modified nacelle structure, developing and integrating aircraft systems, making changes to the flight test aircraft, and installing the Universal Hydrogen powertrain. All of this was accomplished in less than 12 months.
About Universal Hydrogen
Universal Hydrogen is developing a hydrogen logistics network to power the future of aviation. Hydrogen is the best fuel for flying, and it will power the next golden age of aviation when planes run on clean energy powered by renewables and only release water. Based in Los Angeles (California), the company, via an existing freight network from the company's production facility, is transporting the modular hydrogen capsules to any airplane in the world. In addition, it is also working on retrofitting existing regional aircraft to fly on hydrogen by certifying a powertrain conversion kit.