WORLD'S FIRST HYDROGEN-POWERED PLANE

Hydrogen-powered aircraft are viewed with skepticism by many mainstream aviation experts. Yet TU Delft's AeroDelft student team plans to fly the world's first hydrogen-powered aircraft, called the Phoenix PT, in July. During an online event, the students presented the prototype. Text: Fleur de Jong
Image: AeroDelft

From Delft to Ibiza

The Phoenix PT has a range of 501 miles and a flight time of up to seven hours. So a flight from, say, Delft to Ibiza on one tank with no harmful emissions should be possible. 

AeroDelft chose hydrogen because it is the lightest element in the world, but also because it can hold three times as much energy as fossil fuels without emitting greenhouse gases, as hydrogen only gives off water vapor. A nice bonus is also that the Phoenix has an unusually low noise profile. 

The student team, consisting of 50 students with 17 nationalities, started the project in September 2018. Technical project leader of the prototype Sam Rutten calls the presentation of the prototype an important milestone. According to him, it feels like a Christmas present after two years of dedicated research and production. The aircraft will go through several more testing phases in the near future before it will make its first flight in 2022. 

Team manager Jan-Willem van Zwieten indicates that the revolutionary prototype did not come without a struggle. According to him, the corona pandemic caused the process to be hampered considerably. For example, there was no longer a workshop, so the team had to work on the aircraft from a shed in a team member's backyard for several weeks. 

Airbus is also developing hydrogen-powered aircraft. They hope to have an aircraft operational by 2035. To use hydrogen in commercial aviation does present challenges. For example, hydrogen will only be sustainable if it is also produced with green electricity. Also, the infrastructure needed to deliver hydrogen to airports is currently lacking. Small-scale innovations such as Project Phoenix thus seem necessary to initiate a larger development. 

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