HyFish: Fuel Cell Powered Flying ...Fish?
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin 
on 10.15.05
Economy, Safety, Emotion. The design drivers touted by company Smartfish don't include treehugging, or eco- anything. String search "env" and you are more likely to find "envy" than "environment". Koni Schafroth (pictured) may or may not be trying to be a treehugger. But with a design that rocking, his HyFish is the perfect choice for the German Aerospace Center (DLR) project to build an airplane powered by a fuel cell.
The model has successfully passed test flights under battery power, and Smartfish is going forward with development to a 2-man craft that should use less fuel than an auto while zipping along at 900 km/hour (560 mph). But the DLR has eco-adventurous plans for the air-quatic gizmo: they want to outfit a model with 1.5m wingspan for remote controlled flight at 200 to 300 km/hour (120-190 mph), powered by a 1kW fuel cell. To reach the intended height of 7000 meters (23,000 ft), the plane will have to carry oxygen in addition to the hydrogen fuel, in order to meet the demands in the thin atmosphere. The project is intended to demonstrate the functionality of fuel cells in the demanding area of flight and to advance lightweight construction techniques. If successful, the device could be used to take air quality samples: zero emissions from the plane itself enable uncontaminated sampling.
::via initiative-brennstoffzelle(German).
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Hold on.
The 1.5m wingspan is larger than the two-person version? I hope that paragraph isn't very well constructed, because a 5' wingspan on a two person aircraft is a pretty absurd notion.
I'm pretty skeptical. I've run the numbers on electrically powered aircraft, and I think that 500+ knots is EXTREMELY optimistic, particularly assuming you want anything like a useful range.
I'll believe it when I see it. I hope I see it.
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Author's note: The plane will take two paths: it will be scaled up to a traditionally powered 2-passenger craft by Smartfish and it will be constructed as a 5kg (11 pound) remote-controlled model for the fuel cell tests. We all hope to see it; as the Germans would say: we're pressing our thumbs for the DLR.
Perhaps the article has been edited, but I don't understand why you think the writer sugested that the two person version would be smaller than the 1.5 meter version.
Please also note that the plane is not "powered" by electricity. Fuel is converted to electricity which turn the motors. Just like on a naval ship, for example.
Lastly, I'm no expert, but that looks like a lifting body design. Its wingspan may not be very comparable to wingspans of more traditionally shaped aircraft.