An observation helicopter observes a Dash-8 commuter airliner with one engine modified by California-based Universal Hydrogen to run on electricity generated by hydrogen fuel cells as it taxis down the main runway of the Grant County International Airport on Thursday.
March 2, 2023
Stories this photo appears in:
GCIA hosts another first in electric flight
MOSES LAKE — It was another day for the aviation record books at the Grant County International Airport on Thursday. “We are, I think, the second-largest hydrogen airplane ever to fly after the Tupolev 155, which the Soviet (Union) flew in 1988,” said Paul Eremenko, the co-founder and CEO of Hawthorne, California-based Universal Hydrogen. “But I think we can reasonably claim to the fact that we are the largest to cruise principally on hydrogen.” Eremenko spoke to a crowd of about 100 people gathered in the GCIA main terminal following a roughly 20-minute test flight of a special Dash 8 commuter airliner which flew with one electric engine powered by a hydrogen fuel cell system created by Universal Hydrogen.