The Tecnam P92 MkII will be a pivotal asset during competitions, showcasing its prowess in message drops, navigation, power-off landings, and various challenging events. Known for its success in Region IX flight competitions, the Eagles Flight Team aims to elevate its performance with this cutting-edge addition.

Ken Byrnes, Embry-Riddle’s assistant dean and flight chair, emphasized the significance of selecting the Tecnam P92 MkII.

• READ MORE: Tecnam P92 MkII Enters New Era 

“Our selection of the Tecnam P92 at Embry-Riddle reflects a step change in the continuation of providing safe, reliable, and cost-efficient platforms for our Eagle’s Flight Team to remain competitive in the future,” Byrnes said.

David Copeland, director of sales at Tecnam U.S., also expressed enthusiasm about the Eagles Flight Team adopting Tecnam’s aircraft.

“The P92 is a stable, solid, and cost-effective platform that has proven to be the go-to aircraft for flight school programs around the world,” Copeland said. “We are excited to see the Eagles Flight Team piloting Tecnams into the future.”

The P92 MkII boasts enhanced short-field performance, superior climb characteristics, and increased efficiency, thanks to its composite fuselage. With an expanded cabin volume offering improved comfort and advanced Garmin G3X touch avionics, including synthetic view and ground proximity warning, the Eagles Flight Team gains a technological edge in its collegiate aviation pursuits.Tecnam stands at the forefront of eco-friendly aviation initiatives—and the P92 MkII is no exception. Recognized as part of the world’s most environmentally friendly training fleet, Tecnam’s commitment to sustainability aligns with the aviation industry’s emissions goals. Flight schools using Tecnam’s single- and twin-engine fleet can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 60 percent, setting a new standard in eco-friendly flight training.

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First, how likely are hydrogen-powered airliners in the near future? 

Leaders at Boeing have said they’re not interested, for now. They say developing hydrogen-fueled transport aircraft won’t be feasible until at least 2050. However, both Embraer and Airbus are planning to develop hydrogen fuel demonstrator aircraft. Airbus is going further, already collaborating with hydrogen producers and expressing confidence about the fuel’s viability.

“2035 is our targeted entry into service date,” said Glenn Llewellyn, Airbus vice president of zero emission aircraft, during October’s Hydrogen Aviation Summit hosted by ZeroAvia. “Working backwards, it means we’re going to be flight testing propulsion systems around the 2025 timeframe.”

Llewellyn acknowledged that flight testing a hydrogen propulsion system within four years will be a huge challenge. 

“We have a lot of work to converge on the aircraft configurations, which will be done in parallel to technology maturation and the flight demonstration, and also the ecosystem establishment.”

Testing plans at Airbus may already be under way. The OEM didn’t deny reports that it’s planning to test fly an existing CFM International engine converted for hydrogen propulsion. 

“Airbus is in constant talks with all engine manufacturers in order to assess and identify the propulsion technologies that would support its decarbonisation roadmap and enable the company to be ready to launch its first zero-emission airliner in 2025,” an Airbus spokesperson told FLYING. “These talks we keep confidential.”

Although civil aviation only contributes about 2 percent of all worldwide carbon emissions, the industry is increasingly pushing toward reaching net-zero. Many of the world’s largest carriers have already committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, if not sooner, including Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa, Southwest, and others.

In fact, United Airlines and Alaska Air Group have already invested significantly toward research and development of hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Developing the ecosystem and surrounding infrastructure to support wide-scale use of liquid hydrogen as an aviation fuel is a gigantic hurdle that experts point to as key to success. Production, storage, and delivery would all have to be scaled up. To transform the entire hydrogen fuel ecosystem to fully “green” would make this goal even more challenging. 

‘Disruptively Different Propulsion’

In 2020, Airbus unveiled three ZEROe concept airliner designs: a turbofan, a turboprop, and a blended-wing body. 

“It’s much more likely that we would have a turbofan or turboprop—a more classical tube and weight configuration in terms of aircraft concept—nonetheless with a disruptively different propulsion system,” Llewellyn said. “That propulsion system will be running on liquid hydrogen stored on board.”

Engineers are looking at multiple ways to use hydrogen fuel, including gas turbines that burn hydrogen, hydrogen fuel cells, and various hybrid combinations, Llewellyn said. 

Hydrogen fuel cells produce electricity without combustion or emissions, similar to conventional batteries. However, unlike car batteries, they don’t run down or need to be recharged as long as they’re fed hydrogen and oxygen. 

On a hydrogen-fuel-cell aircraft, electricity created by fuel cells drives thrust-producing engines. Compare that to hydrogen gas turbines, which power engines with internal combustion, similar to traditional combustion engines that burn jet-A. Unlike traditional combustion engines, hydrogen burns clean. 

Both types of systems would require huge fuel tanks to carry the amount of liquid hydrogen needed for standard short- and medium-haul routes. 

The reason is rooted in the nature of hydrogen itself. It packs more energy by weight than jet fuel, but it has lower energy by density. That’s because at room temperature hydrogen is a gas, making it difficult to store in large quantities unless it’s compressed by turning it into a liquid. To do that, you have to cool hydrogen to extremely low temperatures. 

That means aircraft hydrogen fuel tanks are going to be more complex and heavier than comparable jet-A tanks—and more weight on an aircraft is a disadvantage. 

However, the industry has tried creating a hydrogen-fueled airliner before. In the late 1980s, Soviet engineers developed the experimental Tupolev Tu-155, which completed about 100 test flights before the program was canceled during the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

Making Hydrogen ‘Green’

Transporting hydrogen fuel from production facilities to airports would be critical to widespread adoption. 

“If we don’t have hydrogen at the aircraft, then there’s no point in providing a hydrogen aircraft,” Llewellyn said. “We believe that hydrogen can be used at airports already in the 2020s to start decarbonizing ground based activities.”

Airbus has already launched significant collaborations with Air Liquide, Vinci Airports, Groupe ADP, and Plug Power in the U.S. 

This is when green hydrogen comes in. The fuel industry has created a color-coded system for hydrogen based on how environmentally friendly it is. Green hydrogen is the cleanest. 

Remember, the goal of moving to hydrogen as an aviation fuel is to reduce carbon emissions. But currently, most hydrogen is manufactured by a process called steam-methane reforming. Basically hot steam is mixed with a methane source, like natural gas, which is a fossil fuel. The process releases carbon dioxide (CO2), which is why hydrogen from steam-methane reforming is not considered green. (In fact, the industry has designated hydrogen made this way as “blue” hydrogen.)

But, there is a way to make hydrogen from renewable sources without producing CO2: It’s a process called electrolysis.

As you may have learned in chemistry class, electrolysis uses massive amounts of electricity to separate water into its chemical elements, ripping the H (hydrogen) from H2O (water). 

Hydrogen produced by electrolysis can only be designated “green” if the electricity used in the process comes from a zero-emission source, like wind turbines or solar energy farms or hydro-electric power plants. Currently, only about one percent of the world’s hydrogen is produced this way. But that number likely will increase as several companies are already working to build this production infrastructure. 

For example, Plug Power is on track to produce green hydrogen in New York, Tennessee, Georgia, and California, where the company says it plans to build the “largest green hydrogen production facility on the U.S. West Coast.” 

Near Cologne, Germany, the largest electrolysis plant of its kind in Europe began producing green hydrogen earlier this year, thanks to funding from the European Union. This Shell facility is on track to pump out 1,300 tons of green hydrogen per year. 

How Much Do We Need?

According to a 2020 European Union study, producing enough liquid hydrogen to fuel the entire aviation industry worldwide could require between 500 and 1,500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, depending on the scenario. That works out to between 20 and 60 percent of total renewable energy capacity available today. 

Currently, the world produces nearly 90 million metric tons of hydrogen per year. That number is expected to more than double to 200 million metric tons in 2030. According to the International Energy Agency, by 2050, global hydrogen production could reach 528 million metric tons per year—more than three-quarters of it green.

The global aviation demand for liquid hydrogen could total more than 9 million metric tons per year by 2040, which would be just 5 percent of total demand, according to the EU study.

If larger hub airports decided to switch just 5 percent of their fuel infrastructure to hydrogen, the EU study estimated it would require about 40,000 tons of liquid hydrogen per year, or about 100 tons per day. 

Regional airports wishing to convert 10 percent of their fuel infrastructure would need about 5,000 tons of liquid hydrogen per year, equal to around 10 tons each day.

The study suggests that hydrogen production facilities—including solar or wind power plants—could be built near airports. For delivering fuel the final mile to airport ramps, hydrogen could be pumped to nearby airports via pipelines. Existing natural gas pipelines could be utilized for this purpose, experts say. 

Paying for It

Producing liquid hydrogen is one thing. Paying for it is another. Skeptics have expressed concern that the cost of producing clean, renewable electricity for green hydrogen will force hydrogen prices to skyrocket.

Currently, green hydrogen costs about $5 per kilogram, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Keeping in mind that hydrogen contains three times more energy than jet-A—green hydrogen now costs more than twice as much as jet fuel.

But hydrogen companies say their fuel will be at cost parity with jet-A starting in 2025, with costs decreasing exponentially. That idea is getting support from the U.S. government. In June, the Department of Energy launched an initiative aimed at slashing green hydrogen prices by 80 percent to $1 per kilogram in the next decade. 

Helping Airports and Airlines Shift to Hydrogen 

Airbus has launched a program to help airports transition to hydrogen. It’s promoting the idea of creating hydrogen fuel hubs: turning airports into hydrogen distribution centers not only for aircraft, but for hydrogen powered ground vehicles and other uses. 

The company has also partnered with carriers such as SAS Airlines and easyJet to assess what kind of infrastructure would be necessary to fuel hydrogen and hydrogen-hybrid aircraft. 

“For hydrogen to meet its full potential, the entire airport ecosystem—airport authorities, energy suppliers, regulatory authorities—needs to come together to collaborate,” Airbus said in a statement. 

Can It Work? 

Experts say all the pieces to make the transition are there, but the challenge is in how to encourage effective and efficient collaboration among industry players. 

The biggest hurdles will include creating affordable large-scale production of green hydrogen and adopting new technology for aviation, specifically along the development and certification tracks, says David Maniaci, an aerospace engineer at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Currently focusing on wind energy aerodynamics, Maniaci conducted his master’s research at Pennsylvania State University on the feasibility and performance of hydrogen-fueled commercial aircraft. 

“I think technically it’s very feasible,” Maniaci said. “It’s a question of anything we put our focus on and come together on is possible. But there are a lot of changes and investments that would be needed.”

Historically, military and government investments have driven many of aviation’s big technological leaps forward, Maniaci said, paving the way for private industry to follow. “There’s probably something similar needed to really get things going in a large way.”

What’s Happening Now

Much of the real-world hydrogen development going on now in aviation surrounds the retrofitting of existing platforms. 

ZeroAvia, based in the U.S. and U.K., has teamed up with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Regional Jet Aviation to develop and retrofit regional jets for hydrogen-electric propulsion. Currently they’re working to convert a 19-seat Dornier 220 turboprop. The plan is to certify the conversion and enter service by 2024. 

Alaska Air Group is also working with ZeroAvia to convert a 76-seat de Havilland Canada Dash-8 to hydrogen-electric, aiming for a range of 500 nm. 

And just this week, United Airlines announced a significant investment in ZeroAvia, including an agreement to purchase as many as 100 hydrogen-powered engines that could be retrofitted on existing United Express regional jets as soon as 2028. United singled out Mitsubishi’s 50-seat CRJ-550 as a potential platform for ZeroAvia’s hydrogen engines. The deal makes United the “largest airline to commit to hydrogen-electric aviation,” the carrier said. 

California-based Universal Hydrogen wants to build a green hydrogen supply business for the aviation industry. Universal has developed kits to convert existing Dash-8s and ATR 72s for powertrains driven by hydrogen fuel cells. The kits are expected to be certified and enter service by 2025. The company also has developed a refueling system based on a proprietary, modular, hydrogen fuel capsule designed to easily be loaded onto aircraft.

What about the emerging electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) industry? As this sector begins to take shape, most prototypes are powered by lithium-ion batteries. However, California-based HyPoint has developed a hydrogen fuel cell targeting the eVTOL market. It has announced deals with eVTOL developers Urban Aeronautics and Piasecki Aircraft Corporation.

Big Leaps

A truly green ecosystem supporting hydrogen aviation fuel would likely be expensive and logistically challenging. Making it work would require successful collaboration between airports, airlines, and manufacturers in the coming decades. 

“If hydrogen-powered aircraft are deployed in segments where they are the most cost-efficient means of decarbonization, they could account for 40 percent of all aircraft by 2050,” the EU study said. 

As an expert watching it all from the sidelines, Maniaci is optimistic that the shift can happen, albeit slowly. 

“It’ll be incremental but there will probably be some big leaps,” he says. “Some of those leaps will be through technology and some will be through groups making big investments and pushing technology forward.”

The post How Green Is Hydrogen Fuel? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Its name speaks literally to what the project has achieved: MAHEPA (Modular Approach to Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Architecture) brought together DLR-German Aerospace Center, H2Fly GmbH, Compact Dynamics GmbH, Politecnico di Milano, TU Delft, and researchers from University of Ulm and University of Maribor under the umbrella Horizon Europe.

The goal? To address the drive towards zero emissions in transportation sectors, including regional and general aviation.

Together, the team flew two four-seat aircraft carrying the prototype power systems:

• A Pipistrel Panthera with a single fuselage, traditionally mounted propeller, and retractable gear
• A H2Fly Hy4 with a dual fuselage and center-mounted propeller and system

The MAHEPA group delivered the report at a meeting at the Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport in Slovenia, where the consortium also had its Pipistrel Panthera demonstrator on display.

A Modular Approach

Fabrizio Gaspari, safety engineer and project coordinator from Pipistrel Vertical Solutions (and a graduate of Politecnico di Milano), reported on the success of the modular approach—developed to craft the components that will evolve to meet specific challenges in the design of initial light aircraft and as they scale up to regional transport.

The thrust of the project was to:

• Advance two variants of a low-emission, highly efficient, serial hybrid-electric propulsion architecture
• Produce in-flight demonstrations on two different aircraft to showcase the flexibility and scalability of the propulsion systems
• Perform scalability studies towards megawatt-scale hydrocarbon driven hybrids and zero-emission hydrogen powered solutions

Work involved the following systems:

• Cooling system design
• Flex fuel-cell hybrid architecture
• Emission measurement
• Estimation of market demands
• Ground infrastructure assessments

Components of the design that powered the two demonstration flights included:

• An electric drive system
• A power generation module
• A fuel-cell system
• Liquid-cooled lithium-ion batteries
• A battery management system

Adaptations to the airframe structure to carry the components

The design achieved several important targets, including a 50-percent increase in total power delivered, at a peak power rating of 300 kilowatts—and a component weight of 30.6 kg, which is 25 percent lighter than previous generations.

The liquid-cooled batteries demonstrated a peak power of 75 kW each, at a weight of 60 kg each, integrated into the wings of the Panthera. The batteries allowed for an “all-electric takeoff,” at 220 kW, enabling the flight tests in October.

What Lies Ahead

Dr. Tiné Tomažič, chief technical officer for Pipistrel, reported on the next steps for the program: the near- and true-zero-emissions aerial transport at the sub-regional level, which targets connecting existing GA airports to commercial hubs in Europe.

Using the terms “miniliner” and “microfeeder” to describe the next stage, Tomažič illustrated the current situation with a question to the audience assembled at the Slovenian airport: “How did you get here?” No one answered that they had flown into the GA airfield—precisely because of the gap in commercially viable aircraft to make it efficient and economical for the average traveler.

MAHEPA’s market studies targeted airports with a minimum runway length of 800 m (2,624 feet) and aircraft with a cruise speed of 200 ktas—enabling thousands of airports within Europe to be better utilized.

Tomažič unveiled the goal aircraft: a 19-seat passenger airplane helmed by a single pilot, with a maximum takeoff weight of 7,500 kg and range of 350 km “hops.”

The Hydrogen Solution

Dr. Josef Kallo, co-founder and CEO of H2Fly, reported on the positive outcomes of the development of a liquid hydrogen-electric power system, culminating in the successful flight test of the Hy4 aircraft.

The aircraft achieved a 110 kW maximum output this year and a 1,200-km range—and the company looks to produce a power system capable of a 300-kW output in 2023. Ground testing of a 1.5 MW power train would come two years later, in 2025.

The program has been in development for 15 years, with seven successful test campaigns under its watch.

The report-out was timed coincidentally during the COP26 Climate Summit in which 26 signatory countries are meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, through November 12—to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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Long-term tax credits could be the key to kick starting momentum for a robust sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market, according to a Department of Transportation official.

The aviation industry has been moving quickly to embrace SAF this year, including business aviation operators and FBOs, along with major airlines, energy companies, and the White House.

A “drop-in” alternative to conventional jet-A fuel, SAF is a blend of fossil fuel and renewable materials, such as cooking and plant oils or agricultural residues, that emits significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

SAF use is projected to slash greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent over a lifecycle, according to the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

While SAF is a readily usable fuel alternative, it’s expensive. Earlier this year, the Biden Administration attempted to tackle the pain at the pump through a proposed blender’s tax credit aimed at incentivizing SAF.

“We recognize that right now, there is a gap between the price of conventional jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel, the latter being much more expensive,” Annie Petsonk, principal deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, said Thursday.

“There are a number of ways to bridge that gap, but one of them is to use the power of the tax code to incentivize the production and blending and use of sustainable aviation fuel,” she said.

“We’re hopeful that Congress will in fact enact this blenders tax credit in a way that rewards those fuels that do better and better at reducing emissions in their lifecycle,” Petsonk said.

Codifying the tax credit into law would be a strategy that would likely give the emerging fuel market staying power for years to come. “We think if this can get enacted, it will be durable,” she said.

‘New Normal’

DOT is also banking on large corporate aviation customers whose companies have made commitments to reduce emissions, or business aviation customers who are in the limelight finding incentive to use their purchasing power in favor of SAF.

“They know that tackling this issue is crucial to their climate credibility,” Petsonk said. Once the demand for and supply of SAF increases, the expectation is that the greener fuel will then become “the new normal,” regardless of future administrations, she added.

It’s a strategy business and commercial aviation believes will spur growth, Tim Obitts, president and CEO of National Air Transportation Association (NATA) said.

“In business aviation, we want SAF,” Obitts said. “We are begging for it. We really need it because the corporate flight departments and people doing critical missions, those flying Part 135, along with fractional—they all want sustainable aviation fuel.”

Late last month, NATA joined a list of more than 60 aviation industry stakeholders that signed a letter urging Congress to include the blender’s tax credit in legislation.

“A performance-based SAF tax credit would scale up the supply of SAF, enhance its cost-competitiveness with conventional jet fuel, provide needed policy parity with ground transportation fuels, and help transition the SAF industry from its current nascent stage to a mature industry capable of sustainably producing billions of gallons of SAF from a wide variety of feedstocks and technologies,” the letter said.

Prioritization of combating climate change through the retooling of fuel strategy is increasingly a top concern throughout the aviation industry. Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines announced it had entered into an agreement with Chevron for the manufacture of a SAF fuel for the airline to test as part of its goal of replacing at least 10 percent of its jet fuel with the clean burning fuel by 2020.

“As aviation continues to define a more sustainable future, understanding the environmental impacts of our operations will be paramount as we look to mitigate climate change,” said Amelia DeLuca, Delta’s managing director of sustainability in a statement Tuesday.

Earlier this month, President Biden challenged the industry—from aircraft manufacturers, airlines and fuel producers to airports and nongovernmental organizations—to make 3 billion gallons of cost-competitive SAF available to U.S. aircraft by 2030 with a goal of creating a carbon-free aviation sector by 2050.

Finding SAF got a little easier this week, thanks to a new interactive map from 4AIR that features FBOs—such as those using SAF via the AvFuel network—that stock it.

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As the demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from operators of turbine-powered aircraft continues to rise, a new interactive map from 4AIR will assist these operators in finding FBOs in the U.S. that regularly stock SAF.

The map does not differentiate between brands, and all locations have been verified by 4AIR to confirm they will have SAF on their flight lines.

4AIR says that although SAF reduces emissions contributing to climate change, the fuel can be hard to find because of limited distribution and fragmented marketing. Their new SAF map is the first aggregator to allow private and business aircraft that typically burn jet-A to now find SAF regardless of the fuel provider.

“Sustainable aviation fuel is an efficient and effective way to reduce the impact private and business jets have on climate change,” said Kennedy Ricci, 4AIR’s president.

“This is the single best way for aviators to find this climate-beneficial fuel. And, by making it easier to find SAF, we hope to promote its use and expand its availability.”

The map currently features nearly 20 verified SAF fuel locations with supply points geared toward business aviation. 4AIR excludes locations if they have:

• Uplifted SAF only once
• Maintain supply only for a particular customer
• Do not have gallons available for purchase regularly

Each active listing includes:

• A street address
• A link to the FBO’s website
• A contact telephone number for ease in reaching the fuel provider.

The map will be updated continuously as new locations are verified or new announcements are made.

For Example

One FBO on the 4AIR map that is offering SAF on a regular basis is Sun Air Jets| at Camarillo Airport (KCMA). As of this week, Sun Air Jets was offering full-service SAF for $4.12/gallon, the same price as their Jet-A fuel.

“Sun Air Jets is proud to be one of the first FBOs in the nation to offer SAF,” said Steve Maloney, Sun Air Jets EVP of finance and business operations. “Virtually all of our aircraft owners have requested their aircraft utilize SAF, and demand at our FBO has exceeded our wildest expectations. Having a map with location details of FBOs offering SAF is a brilliant idea that I’m sure will be incredibly popular with pilots and flight department managers.”

Offering SAF on a regular basis is part of a much larger overall green aviation initiative for Sun Air Jets. “We have recently signed on with the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) to become one of their beta FBOs for a new Certified Green FBO program. As such, we will be one of the first in the country to have that designation for our KCMA location. And to ensure that we are leaders in sustainability for private aviation, we are on the environmental subcommittees for both NATA and NBAA,” the FBO said.

SAF is considered a “drop-in” fuel, meaning it has a similar chemical composition to fossil fuels, and therefore the same emissions, but it can be pumped, stored, and used within the existing fuel infrastructure.

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