Airplane News: First Hydrogen Electric Cell, Bonanzas & Barons Paused, EAA Wants Piper AD Rescinded

Welcome to your weekly General Aviation news update, and this week we have 3 stories for you; First hydrogen electric fuel cell airplane in France, Textron pauses orders for Bonanzas and Barons, and the EAA wants the piper AD rescinded.

First up this week is a light sport demonstrator aircraft that uses a Hydrogen Electric propulsion system. Beyond Aero announced this week that they flew their demonstrator, called “Bleriot”, in early January. The Bleriot completed 10 takeoffs and landings over six weeks to validate the 85 kW propulsion system. The electric motor was powered using 1/3 battery power and 2/3 gaseous hydrogen, compressed in three tanks to nearly 5000 PSI. Beyond Aero hops to create electric business aircraft with hydrogen propulsion systems with in the decade. We’ll keep you updated when we see more. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/france-marks-first-crewed-hydrogen-electric-flight/?MailingID=%CAMPAIGNID%&utm_campaign=avwebflash&utm_medium=newsletter Next up this week is Textron, who confirmed they are not currently taking orders for new Beech Bonanzas or Barons. Textron hasn’t detailed why there is a pause in orders nor when they may resume accepting them. The company said in a statement ““To ensure the best experience for our customers throughout every stage of their ownership journey, Textron Aviation has temporarily suspended additions to the order book for the Beechcraft Bonanza,” We’ll keep you updated when we see more about these aircraft. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/textron-pauses-orders-for-bonanzas-barons/ Last up this week is the EAA, who is pushing back on the Airworthiness directive for 31,000 high-wing pipers. The AD was implemented due to incidents on a PA-12 and a PA-14 which resulted in deformed rudders. Both incident aircraft had been modified with after market engines and aftermarket tail beacons. The EAA says the AD is “flawed in regulatory process, scope, and requirements” and continues to say later that at current production and supply rates, retrofitting all 31,000 aircraft would take 75 years. We’ll keep you updated if we see anything else about this! https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/eaa-wants-piper-rudder-ad-rescinded/ Alright, that’s it! Have a great week and we’ll see you next week.