FutureFlight
MAHEPA Program Prepares to Fly Hybrid Version of Pipistrel's Panthera
The European 'green aviation' group recently conducted flight trials with a hydrogen-powered hybrid-electric Hy4 technology demonstrator.
MAHEPA Hy4
The MAHEPA consortium started flight testing the Hy4 hydrogen hybrid-electric technology demonstrator from Maribor Airport in Slovenia during November 2020. (Photo: Pipistrel)

Europe’s Modular Approach to Hybrid Electric Propulsion Architecture (MAHEPA) is preparing to fly a new hybrid version of Pipistrel’s Panthera light aircraft. This follows the successful test flights conducted in November with the consortium’s hydrogen-powered hybrid-electric Hy-4 technology demonstrator.

Slovenia-based Pipistrel’s Vertical Solutions division is a member of the MAHEPA consortium that also includes Compact Dynamics, German aerospace research agency DLR, hydrogen storage specialist H2Fly, Italy’s Politecnico di Milano, the TU Delft university in the Netherlands, the University of Maribor, and the University of Ulm in Germany. The first Hy4 flight was made on November 6 from Maribor Airport in Slovenia and the aircraft spent the next two weeks flying sorties of up to two hours duration.