Deutsche Aircraft has completed a wind-tunnel testing campaign for the 328ALPHA technology demonstrator. The 328ALPHA is a one-off modification to an existing D328 airframe and the objective of the programme is to evaluate, develop and flight-test technologies that will reduce aviation emissions, such as electric propulsion, fuel cells and liquid hydrogen storage.

The test was conducted as a part of the German Civil Aviation Research programme and is partially funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action which has the goal of developing sustainable and efficient air transport system of the future.

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A nine-week campaign evaluated various combinations of propulsive power, stability, control and performance parameters over the expected flight envelope. The outcome of this test confirms prior analysis conducted using state-of-the-art Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and will allow the airframe manufacturer to refine an engineering flight simulator.

The 328ALPHA was also presented at the E2FLIGHT Emission Free and Electric Flight Conference in September 2023, which was organised by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and University of Stuttgart. Chief Engineer for Future Projects at Deutsche Aircraft, Riaan Myburgh, presented the latest developments for the 328ALPHA demonstrator at the conference.