First Fuel Cell Flight

The world's first piloted aircraft capable of taking off using only power from fuel cells, Antares DLR-H2, took off from Hamburg airport at 13.00 on July 7th, 2009. The Antares DLR-H2, developed by the German Aerospace Center, flies with zero CO2 emissions and has a much lower noise footprint than other motor gliders.
The Antares DLR-H2 motor glider has set the bar for new standards in zero-emission energy conversion and demonstrates the progress made in fuel cell technology.
"We have improved the performance capabilities and efficiency of the fuel cell to such an extent that a piloted aircraft is now able to take off using it," explained Professor Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Chairman of the Executive Board at DLR. "This enables us to demonstrate the true potential of this technology, also and perhaps specifically for applications in the aerospace sector."
The Antares DLR-H2 is based on the Antares 20E motor glider with a wingspan of 20 meters (66ft), constructed by Lange Aviation, a company based in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. With its fuel cell propulsion system, Antares has a cruising range of 750 kilometers (466 miles), achieved in a flying time of five hours. The existing propulsion and aerodynamics limits the top speed to 170kph (106 mph), but future designs may reach 300 kph (186mph).
The fuel cell system uses hydrogen as its fuel, and this is converted into electrical energy in a direct electrochemical reaction with oxygen in the ambient air, without any combustion occurring. The only by-product of the zero-particulate reaction is water.