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The single-engined Magnus eFusion aircraft crashed shortly after
take-off at an airfield near Budapest on May 31, Siemens said on
Wednesday, confirming reports that had appeared in other media.
"We can confirm that an accident happened to an experimental
airplane featuring our electric propulsion unit," Siemens said
in a statement.
Siemens could not comment on the cause of the accident, and said
it was working with the Transportation Safety Bureau of Hungary,
the Hungarian Aviation Authority Bureau and local police. A team
from Siemens in Hungary was also helping with the inquiry to
establish the cause, a company spokesman said.
Siemens has been working with Magnus, a Hungarian aircraft
manufacturer, for more than two years, and supplied an electric
engine and components for the aircraft that has been flying
since 2016.
"As a precautionary measure we decided to ground the Magnus
eFusion aircraft fleet until we know the cause of this tragic
accident," Siemens said. The grounding order will affect three
other Magnus eFusion planes.
Magnus Aircraft said in a statement that the plane had crashed
for unknown reasons while on a test flight. Further
announcements would only be made after the results of the
experts' report were known, it said.
Siemens in recent years has been working on developing electric
motors for aircraft, and two years ago signed a collaboration
agreement with Airbus to develop propulsion systems for
electrically-powered passenger planes.
(Reporting by John Revill, additional reporting by Krisztina
Than in Budapest; Editing by Adrian Croft)
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