Kemble, United Kingdom – The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has granted permission to fly ZeroAvia’s Dornier 228 aircraft, which has been retrofitted with its prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain. ZeroAvia received flight clearance following ground testing activities and a review of the full development plan.
The license means Hollister, California-based ZeroAvia can now begin the first test flight of its 600kW hydrogen-electric powertrain. The 19-seat twin-engine aircraft has been modified in an engineering testbed configuration to incorporate ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric engine to power the propeller on the left wing, and to operate with a single Honeywell TPE-331 backup engine on the right to Provide appropriate redundancy to allow safe testing of novel propulsion technologies.
The test flight will be an achievement of ZeroAvia and the HyFlyer II project, a research and development program supported by the UK government’s ATI program to develop a 600kW hydrogen-electric powertrain for 9-19 seat aircraft.
For this test program, ZeroAvia worked with CAA to meet stricter requirements than the E-Conditions framework ZeroAvia used for its 6-seat prototype in 2020. Part 21 is an industry standard term used to describe the regulatory approval of aircraft design and production organizations, and the certification of aircraft products, parts and equipment. Obtaining the flight license is an important milestone on the road to commercialization of ZeroAvia.
ZeroAvia said the license paves the way to submit the ZA600 in a commercial certification configuration by the end of 2023, before delivering the powertrain for the first commercial flight of the 9- to 19-seat aircraft starting in 2025.
