Boeing flies first manned hydrogen-powered airplane

April 7 -- Boeing on April 3 said that it had recently flown a manned airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells. It was a first in aviation history, according to the aircraft maker.

An engineering team at Boeing Research & Technology Europe in Madrid, with assistance from industry partners in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, spearheaded the effort.

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts hydrogen directly into electricity and heat with none of the products of combustion such as carbon dioxide. Other than heat, water is its only exhaust.

A two-seat Dimona motor-glider with a 53.5-foot wingspan was used as the airframe. Built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, it was modified by Boeing to include a proton exchange membrane fuel cell and lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.

Three test flights took place in February and March at the airfield in Ocana, south of Madrid.

E-mail Waste News senior reporter Bruce Geiselman at bgeiselman@crain.com