Beta ‘Alia’ Evaluated By First Commercial Customer, Bristow, Flight Major Success
Bristow Group, best known for its helicopters, conducted this week a successful “qualitative evaluation” of Beta Technologies electric-powered aircraft, Alia-250, reports a press release. Bristow a year ago, signed an agreement with Beta to initially purchase five Alia-250 with an option for an additional 50 aircraft.
In the past, other successful evaluation flights have been conducted by test pilots from the U.S. Air Force, Army, and FAA. The latest was carried out by Bristol pilot, Bryan Willows, representing a big step forward for the collaboration as the Alia-250 progresses towards certification and operations. It was flown in a CTOL configuration i.e without its lift propellers.
Willows is Bristow’s Program Manager for Advanced Air Mobility, who flew alongside Beta test pilot Chris Caputo. An accomplished pilot and former U.S. Marine, Willows is a rotorcraft Airline Transport Pilot, a Powered-lift CFII, and holds single and multi-engine airplane ratings, uniquely qualifying him to fly the electric aircraft.
The Alia took off at 10:30am and landed at 11:25am, clocking 55 mins in the air. The flight originated at KPBG (Plattsburgh, NY), Beta’s flight test centre, as part of a broader onsite visit from Bristow.
Bryan Willows, Chris Caputo (Credit: Beta)
During the flight, Willows completed a standard flight profile featuring stalls, slow flight, and takeoffs/landings. This flight marks the 7th non-Beta pilot in Alia’s cockpit, following qualitative evaluation flights conducted by the U.S. Air Force, Army, and FAA.
This news follows on from Beta’s announcement back in April of its production facility to be opened in South Burlington, Vermont. Both the latest Alia and the company’s other aircraft, the electric conventional takeoff and landing plane (CTOL), the CX300, will be built here.
Kyle Clark, Founder and CEO of Beta, commented at the time, “The transition our company has made over the last year is moving from a research and development company to a production company. The majority of the work being done here is centred on production certification, quality control systems, supply chain and assembling machinery.” Beta says hundreds of people will work in the facility, which is designed to produce up to 300 aircraft a year.
Meanwhile, U.S. First Lady Jill Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, visited the R&D facility in April to view the company’s workforce development programs. Back in March, Beta reported it would certify the CX300 by 2025, leapfrogging its plan to certify the Alia first. The company hopes the latter may occur by 2026.
The company believes the FAA will set a relatively quick path toward certifying the CX300 since it can be treated as a conventional airplane, whereas the Alia design falls under the FAA’s still-emerging process to certify eVTOLs and their operations. Beta also intends to certify its electric motor so that it can be sold separately.
First Lady Jill Biden Alongside Kyle Clark and Governor Phil Scott (Credit: Barton/Free Press)
Bristol has also placed a deposit-backed order for up to 50 CX300s; Air New Zealand has ordered three, with an option for 20 more; while medical delivery company, United Therapeutic, has ordered an unspecified number.
Beta plans to focus first on cargo transport and add passengers for air taxi transport later. Eventually, the company aims for autonomous aircraft. Beta has test flown some prototypes without pilots on board, but most of its test flight program has been with a pilot in the cockpit.
Kyle explains the company’s strategy. “You could take it to the extreme and say, ‘I’m going to do a passenger autonomous VTOL aircraft in step one.’ That’s a very valid way to think about the problem, but that is a decade-long endeavour, at least.”
He continued, “We chunked it down to say, ‘Let’s certify the propeller and the motor first, then let’s certify the CTOL aircraft. Then let’s certify the VTOL aircraft, then let’s extend it to passenger service. Then let’s add autonomy.’”
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(Top Pic: Beta Technologies)
