Making an emergency landing outside the airport where it was carrying out a series of routine tests, the one billed as the “first commercial grade hydrogen fuel cell powered aircraft” was involved in an accident.
At around 3:30 PM, very close to Cranfield airport, the ZeroAvia plane was forced to land, sustaining significant damage to the horizontal stabilizer and the hood. The left wing was completely detached. Fortunately, the two crew members are safe.
ZeroAvia and the competent UK government institutions such as the European Center for Marine Energy and Intelligent Energy are in the investigation phase to determine the origin of the failure in the aircraft system.
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Tech researcher Mark Harris offered some details about the incident, noting that for obvious reasons the plane will not fly again.
“They were experiencing longer flights in the medium term future. What exactly happened was that the aircraft landed on its wheels, it could almost stop, but it was all over for the plane to reach a very uneven terrain. Although it was going at low speed, it was enough to cause some blows that destroyed part of its structure,” said the expert.
Despite what happened, the British hydrogen and electricity aircraft developer, ZeroAvia, expressed through a statement that although the accident is very regrettable, it represents one of the first steps to generate the change from fossil fuels to zero-emission hydrogen.
“In the near future, and without the need for any new fundamental science, hydrogen-powered aircraft will match the flight distances and payload of today’s fossil fuel aircraft,” stated the company founded in 2017.
Hydrogen gave peace of mind
Hydrogen-powered aircraft are still in an experimental phase and their creators seek to convince regulators of their environmental advantages, although they also intend to make very clear the safety parameters to which these vehicles are subject.
“The gaseous hydrogen on board (assuming this was a fuel cell flight) does not appear to have caused or contributed to a fire. Ultimately, this could help reassure regulators that H2 is not inherently unsafe,”argued Mark.
Written by | Osward Rubio
