AviationDiscuss Hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye aircraft demonstrated in the World War II - Aviation forums; Boeing’s Phantom Eye unmanned aircraft has completed its maiden flight, which lasted just under half-an-hour and followed a series of ...
Boeing’s Phantom Eye unmanned aircraft has completed its maiden flight, which lasted just under half-an-hour and followed a series of initial tests performed in April, and as it’s powered by hydrogen, nothing more harmful than water was emitted during the test.
The Phantom Eye is just one of Boeing’s unmanned airborne systems, or UAS, and is designed to carry out surveillance and intelligence missions. The longer such aircraft can stay in the air, the better, hence the long-range hydrogen propulsion system.
Once the Phantom Eye is operational, Boeing expects it to fly missions lasting up to four days without needing to land, all the while carrying 450-pounds of equipment. As you can see from the picture it’s not a small aircraft, and boasts a wingspan of 150-feet, which is larger than many medium-range passenger jets.
The test flight took place at Edwards Air Base in California on June 1, and the Phantom Eye stayed airborne for 28-minutes, reaching an altitude of 4,080-feet and a speed of 62-knots. In the future, the plane will have a maximum cruising altitude of 65,000-feet.
Of course, keeping an aircraft in continuous use for four days means it needs not only to be very reliable, but also require the minimum of maintenance. When the Phantom Eye was unveiled in 2010, Boeing revealed it would use two 150-horsepower, Ford 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engines, much like those found in Ford’s road cars, just converted for use with hydrogen. Tests of these engines in altitude chambers showed complete reliability for 600 hours, six times that needed for a four-day mission.
Previous Phantom Eye tests have required the plane to be fueled with 1900-pounds of cryogenic hydrogen, a process which takes 12-hours, including priming the fuel system ready for flight. Hydrogen has long been seen as an alternative fuel source for cars, and projects like this help push the technology forward.
Sadly, the Phantom Eye had a bumpy touchdown, as the landing gear dug into the ground and broke, but despite this set back plans are moving forward for the next test flight, where the plane will reach higher altitudes than this week’s early shakedown.
“The entrance to the cockpit of this aircraft is most difficult. It should have been made impossible.” — Flight Journal magazine, April 2000, regards the XF10F-1, Grumman's first attempt at a swing wing fighter.
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to Continue that Counts"
Sir Winston Churchill
"To him the People of the World Largely owe the Freedom and Liberties they Enjoy Today"
Enscription on Hugh Dowding's (AOC Fighter Command 1936-40) statue in London
"In the future, the plane will have a maximum cruising altitude of 65,000-feet."
Hydrogen powered aircraft. Why? Because we can of course. That hydrogen fuel is sooo efficient, and because the hydrogen engine exhaust is just water and not that nasty CO2 sh*t, it is far more eco-friendly. Or is it? The water exhaust will enter the atmosphere, unless of course it is captured and split into its constituent moliecules (for reuse) using the power made available by the onboard nuclear reactor or the embedded, hyper-efficient solar panels of unobtanium covering its upper surface. If it flies to stratospheric altitude, the exhausted water will enter the stratosphere where it will eat ozone very, very efficiently. Hydrogen-powered, high-altitude aircraft = increased probability of skin cancers. Hmmm, I am feeling quite green this morning. But I guess one such aircraft doesn't pose much of a threat.
Commander Buzz Kill.
Last edited by oldcrowcv63; 06-10-2012 at 08:20 AM.
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Originally Posted by barney 
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