The drive was pretty uneventful. I’ve been back in Grand Forks for about a week now, and the semester is already looking to be pretty hectic. My CFI course has been described, several times, as ‘the toughest flight course you’ll ever take’. It’s a 5 credit course, and I’ve been told that it feels like it ought to be 10 or 15. We’ll see how that goes.

In other news, Boeing is working on a fuel-cell aircraft that is to fly within the next year. Combining a Katana Xtreme motorglider with proton exchange membrane technology, it will use an electric motor powered by a combination of batteries (for additional takeoff power) and the fuel cells. As I’ve mentioned before, Boeing is heavily invested in new technologies that will break the industry’s dependency on fossil fuels. I’ve not seen much on this from any of the other major manufacturers, although they’re likely looking into similar projects.

Along the same lines, Georgia Tech just flew a medium UAV on fuel cell power. Fuel cells certainly aren’t the future of clean aviation – too expensive, and somewhat unreliable – but work with the technology will help progress in other green areas. Much is said about the benefits of running hydrogen in existing engines – it’s efficient and clean, but almost always the infrastructure and mass issues are ignored. With compressed or liquid H₂ comes the need for strong and durable storage systems, an investment that’s unlikely to be attractive to customers.

Still, it’s about time that this kind of progress is made. The majority of general aviation powerplants are based on the same technology the Wright Flyer used.