Universal Hydrogen Dash 8-300 makes second flight

Avatar photoJon Ostrower·
Dispatches
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Universal Hydrogen’s Dash 8-300 turboprop running with one engine converted to fly with electricity generated by hydrogen fuel cells made its second flight on June 5, the company announced.  The 30-minute second flight (twice as long as the first) from its base in Moses Lake, Washington reached 5,000 feet (vs. 3,500 feet on the first flight). The test aircraft, dubbed Lightning McClean, first flew on March 2. Mark Cousin, Universal Hydrogen CTO, told TAC the startup is advancing toward maturing its powertrain’s reliability and endurance and is expected to move to eventually move to Mojave, California as it seeks to advance a supplemental type certificate for the ATR72.

While progress for flying is an important metric for the company’s industrialization, the progress toward certified storage capability and infrastructure for liquid and gaseous hydrogen (for which the company was established) remains its central pillar and perhaps the most important for gauging its long-term viability.

Related: Now airborne, Universal Hydrogen looks ahead to ATR commercialization

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Jon Ostrower
Jon Ostrower is Editor-in-chief of The Air Current, where he leads coverage of the global aerospace and aviation industries. Prior to launching TAC in June 2018, Mr. Ostrower served as Aviation Editor for CNN Worldwide, guiding the network’s global coverage of the business and operations of aviation. Mr. Ostrower joined CNN in 2016 following four and a half years at the Wall Street Journal. Based first in Chicago and then in Washington, D.C., he covered Boeing, aviation safety, and the business of global aerospace. Before that, Mr. Ostrower was editor of FlightBlogger for Flightglobal and Flight International Magazine covering the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and other new aircraft programs from 2007 to 2012. He is also an instructor at the University of Southern California in the Viterbi School of Engineering's Aviation Safety and Security program. Mr. Ostrower, a Boston native, graduated from The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs with a bachelor’s degree in Political Communication. He is based in Seattle.
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