The Vertical Flight Society's 3rd Annual H2-Aero Symposium a great event, featuring groundbreaking presentations with the latest developments in hydrogen aviation. The video recordings are available for all VFS members for free, as well as for all attendees (free with the code) and the public for purchase. A download link to the presentations was provided to all attendees; slides are also available for purchase in the VFS Vertical Flight Library (free for VFS corporate members). Read the summary article.
3rd Annual H2-Aero Symposium
a track at the SAE AeroTech Conference
March 13–14, 2024 @ Charlotte, North Carolina
Leading Experts to Address Hydrogen for Aero Applications
The Vertical Flight Society's 3rd Annual H2-Aero Symposium is being held March 13-14, as a day-and-a-half track within SAE International's AeroTech three-day conference on March 12-14. The H2-Aero Symposium track will feature groundbreaking presentations with the latest cutting-edge developments by a who's who of the hydrogen aviation and fuel cell community. Registrants can attend all sessions at AeroTech and can freely attend any presentations or tracks at the SAE conference.
Confirmed speakers include leaders from across the hydrogen aviation field, including the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Gen H2, Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories, Inc (GTL), NASA, Piasecki Aircraft, ZEV Station, and many others! Check out the final H2-Aero Symposium agenda (pdf)
As always, this meeting is being held in conjunction with SAE International's AE-5CH Hydrogen Airport Taskgroup — all conference registrants and SAE members are all welcome to attend. The taskgroup's goal is to work between the aircraft and hydrogen industries towards standardization of hydrogen related to the whole value chain at the airport.
Registration
Go to the SAE AeroTech Registration page to register. If you are a VFS member but not an SAE member, SAE International will give you the SAE member discounted rate. Beyond the VFS H2-Aero Symposium, registrants may attend all three days of included AeroTech events.
Background
Following up on Society's successful programs on hydrogen electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft since 2020, our 3rd Annual H2-Aero Symposium is being held to help accelerate development and scale both the hydrogen infrastructure as well as fuel cell aircraft.
There are challenges in decarbonizing the aerospace industry, especially due to lightweighting and powertrain needs. Larger, heavier eVTOL aircraft that require more power for sustained flight need fuel cells with hydrogen, combined with batteries to achieve zero-emission, all-electric, long-range flights.
Despite the clear advantages of utilizing hydrogen, it still hasn’t been widely embraced as an accepted propulsion approach in North America. Though sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a good transition fuel that helps to reduce CO2, it does not answer all the questions for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, and consumes more resources such as energy and water. Hydrogen, on the other hand, holds tremendous potential in this area as a mid- and long-term replacement of kerosene.
After the passage of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the US government has committed $8B to support the development of hydrogen hubs across America. In addition, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act offered significant incentives for the large-scale use of hydrogen. Thus, there is great opportunity to utilize these resources towards outfitting hydrogen at airports.
Though hydrogen is standardized for ground vehicles, it is not yet at scale for use for aircraft. Other impediments include the lack of infrastructure, transporting hydrogen and high costs due to the scale of the industry today. The H2-Aero initiative is seeking to think "outside the box," as it’s certainly possible to bring hydrogen at scale, especially in conjunction with other forms of transportation such as airport ground equipment. The H2-Aero Team has published a whitepaper, “Multimodal H2-Airport Hub,” to cover the scenario for a Hydrogen Hub starting with ground vehicles and later scaling to support an airport with hydrogen aircraft through different scenarios of storage, distribution and production.
Although multiple hydrogen consortia and government bodies have published roadmaps, and the UK and European Union have made great strides in this area, there has been surprisingly little traction for hydrogen aviation in the US. The H2-Aero Team is engaging with government, industry and academic organizations to bring hydrogen for the range of aircraft — from eVTOL, eRotor, eSTOL, LTA and eCTOL — to the forefront, because aviation is one of the most challenging transportation industries to decarbonize and stands to benefit the most from hydrogen.
Join the H2-Aero Team!
Led by the Chair, Jesse Schneider of ZEV Station, along with a team of experts from around the aviation and hydrogen industries, VFS formed the H2-Aero Team in January 2022 to tackle the tough challenges to commercialize hydrogen at the airport. The goal was to unite the US voice in bringing hydrogen to market in aviation by developing the Multimodal H2-Airport Hub whitepaper that includes a roadmap for policy, demonstration and a H2 Hub, with the goal to establish Public-Private-Partnership with government and industry. The VFS H2-Aero Team is pushing the envelope to accelerate commercialization of hydrogen aviation.
Get involved: Sign up for the mailing list!
The Society's 1st H2-Aero Symposium & Workshop in March 2022 was a first-of-its-kind event in North America! A major outcome of the workshop was the initiation of a groundbreaking whitepaper that outlines a ground vehicle and aircraft hydrogen hub as a model to commercialize a hydrogen airport. Check out the VFS H2-Aero Team's Multimodal H2-Airport Hub, as well as the available videos, presentations and summary article. The 2nd H2-Aero Symposium in March 2023 was another great success! Check out our Vertiflite summary article: H2-Aero Symposium: Zero Emissions Aircraft Take Flight. Video recordings are available at no charge for VFS members and available for purchase by the public. Presentation slides are also available for purchase.
Updated March 24, 2024
Note that this is an SAE International event. VFS is organizing the speakers for the H2-Aero Symposium track as part of SAE's AeroTech conference. SAE is handling all registration, logistics, etc.
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
Gold Level:
Venue
Charlotte Convention Center
501 S College Street
Charlotte, NC 28202
map
Hotel Information
The Westin Charlotte601 S College St
Charlotte, NC 28202
Group rate: $229 per night
Book the discounted AeroTech rate here.
Please visit SAE's AeroTech Hotel & Travel page for more information.
H2-Aero Symposium Sponsorships
- Gold Sponsorship: $2,500 — includes top-billing logos/signage, digital flyer and a 20-minute speaking slot. (Subject to approval and availability.)
- Silver Sponsorship: $500 — includes logos/signage and a digital flyer (no speaking slot).
Download the Sponsor Application (pdf) for the H2-Aero Symposium and support this great event!