Engines
Lange To Help Lyte with Hybrid-hydrogen Powertrain for VTOL Aircraft
Lyte Aviation also aims to recruit Cranfield University PhD students to support the program
Lyte Aviation SkyBus LA-44 VTOL aircraft
Lyte Aviation is now in a risk-sharing partnership with Lange Aviation to develop a hybrid-hydrogen-electric propulsion system for its 40-passenger SkyBus LA-44 VTOL aircraft.

Lange Aviation will help develop a prototype hybrid-hydrogen-electric powertrain for Lyte Aviation’s planned 40-seat SkyBus LA-44 aircraft. The risk-sharing partnership was announced this week, in tandem with plans for Lyte to recruit PhD students from Cranfield University’s new Centre for Doctoral Training in net zero aviation.

Germany-based Lange Aviation has been working on electric propulsion for aircraft since 1999, and, working with the country’s DLR aerospace research agency, has been flight testing fuel cell technology on the Antares DLR-H2 testbed. It is now preparing to start flying the higher-performance Antares E2 model later this year, and this will also use hydrogen fuel cells, which are set to be a key aspect of the SkyBus powertrain.

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