Boeing yesterday announced the first ever flight of a manned airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells. A Dimona motor-glider was modified to use a fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid combo – the main benefit is no CO2 in the exhaust. The flight lasted 20 minutes. Boeing sez that it’s striving to “improve the environmental performance” of small airframes.
And in other news, China plans to build 97 new airports to open in 12 yrs. …must be some irony there.
Boeing Successfully Flies Fuel Cell-Powered Airplane – news release. April 03 2008 via TreeHugger.com
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Fuel cells in planes would make a huge ecological difference. I hope these work out.
I’d want to wait a while before I’d actually get in one of those, no offense to anyone involved.
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