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Are there any regulatory concerns with using hydrogen as the lifting gas, and if so, how do you plan to address them? A few years ago I was involved with an R&D
by Sanzig 3y ago
Are there any regulatory concerns with using hydrogen as the lifting gas, and if so, how do you plan to address them? A few years ago I was involved with an R&D contract bid looking at unmanned airships for communication, and one of the takeaways we found was that hydrogen is actually prohibited as a lifting gas here in Canada [1]. Presumably, the regulations were written before remotely operated or autonomous airships were envisioned, but even so we opted to baseline helium to avoid the risk of a waiver being denied. I assume other countries have similar airworthiness rules.
[1] https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/acts-regulations/list-regulations/canadian-aviation-regulations-sor-96-433/standards/airworthiness-chapter-541-airships-canadian-aviation-regulations-cars https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/acts-regulations/...
- ThomasLaporte 3y agoActually, it was exactly the same in France where we operate. It is written that H2 is forbidden but we asked the civil aviation authority and they told us that we just need to ask for the autorization to use this gas when we organize our flight approval. We asked the same question to the EU aviation authority and they told us that were not seeing any problem with using H2 as a lifting gas because of the great record of the Gordon Bennett Cup: https://balloonfiesta.com/Gordon-Bennett-2023 https://balloonfiesta.com/Gordon-Bennett-2023. Which had no incident in many years.
- krisoft 3y agoThe FAA's 1995 Airship Design Criteria report says: "The lifting gas must be non-flammable." Page 44: https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/airships/aceAirshipDesignCriteria.pdf https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/aircraft/air_cert/de...
- ThomasLaporte 3y agoI'm not sure but I think that this applies to manned airships.
- retrocryptid 3y agoYou may want to be sure about the regulatory environment you're selling into.
- ThomasLaporte 3y agoExactly you are right, for now we are selling in Europe and the regulatory requirements are good.
- natch 3y agoYou might consider whether there was perhaps an underlying issue behind the regulations and the logic around that issue could apply regardless of manmade border lines.
- burnished 3y agoIt was the hazard posed to the people piloting the craft.
- natch 3y agoThank you for strengthening my point.
- burnished 3y agoWe must be talking past each other because the craft under discussion is unmanned - how does a hazard to a crew that does not exist strengthen your point?
- natch 3y agoIf it's a hazard to a crew, it could also be a hazard to electronics that pilot the craft. If the craft comes down as a result, that could be bad news for any forests, buildings, people, etc. nearby on the ground. Glad to help!