Depletion of fossil fuels and environmental considerations have led engineers and scientists to anticipate the need to develop a clean, renewable and sustainable energy system. In general, they agree that in such a system hydrogen will be used as an energy carrier.
One of the areas in which hydrogen will be replacing fossil fuels is air transportation, an area that has been under research for several decades. Hydrogen as an energy carrier for use in airplanes has some unique attributes like global availability, safety, minimum pollution and light weight, making it an ideal fuel. This paper briefly reviews hydrogen as a fuel in aviation, compares it with other aviation fuels, and discusses the possible future developments and the goals in this held. (C) 1997 International Association for Hydrogen Energy.