Beta Achieves Piloted eVTOL Aircraft Transition Flights

Beta Technologies has achieved the first piloted transition flights with a prototype of its Alia 250 eVTOL aircraft prototype, the Vermont-based aircraft developer announced today. A successful transition flight marks a significant milestone in the development of any eVTOL aircraft, demonstrating the core capabilities of vertical lift and horizontal cruise in combination. 

With Beta test pilot and former U.S. Air Force test pilot Nate Moyer at the helm, the eVTOL prototype took off vertically from Beta’s flight testing facilities at Plattsburgh International Airport (KPBG) in upstate New York. Spinning its four vertical lift propellers and single rear pusher-propeller, the aircraft sped forward until it reached cruise speed, with the fixed wing providing all of the lift so the vertical propellers could power down.

A video of the flight test shows Beta’s aircraft with tail number N251UT seamlessly transitioning to fully wingborne cruise, with all four vertical lift propellers coming to a standstill as the aircraft glides through the sky.

“The transition is a technological hurdle for aviation. Being able to safely cross that is huge,” Moyer said in the video. “Obviously, it’s big for the business but it’s also big for the industry as a whole.”

Other aircraft developers have also achieved transition flights with their respective eVTOL air taxi models, including Joby, Archer, and Lilium. However, those flights were remotely piloted, whereas Beta does the bulk of its flight testing with pilots on board. Boeing's Wisk subsidiary, which is developing a pilotless eVTOL air taxi, achieved a piloted transition flight with its single-seat, third-generation technology demonstrator in 2017. The only other eVTOL developer that has begun flying with on-board pilots is Joby, although those pilots have not yet conducted a full transition to cruise flight—a feat that Joby first accomplished with a remotely piloted prototype in 2017. 

While Beta’s eVTOL flight testing has mostly been confined to Plattsburgh, the company’s eCTOL (conventional takeoff and landing) prototype has been actively flying all over the eastern U.S. for the past couple of years. It also recently completed a three-month deployment with the U.S. Air Force. Between its eVTOL and eCTOL models, Beta has logged more than 40,000 nautical miles in flight testing in four years. 

Beta originally created the eCTOL model as a prototype for the Alia 250 eVTOL aircraft, but in March 2023 the company announced it would commercialize both versions of the aircraft—a strategic decision that will allow the company to get an FAA-certified aircraft to market sooner. The eCTOL model, called CX300, is expected to receive FAA type certification in 2025, with the Alia 250 eVTOL model to follow in 2026.

The company has already signed several customers for both models of the aircraft, including UPS, United Therapeutics, Bristow, Air New Zealand, and Blade.