BETA inventor completes first test flight in production eCTOL [Video]

All-electric aircraft developer BETA Technologies has shared another important step in bringing its first two aircraft to market. Recently, BETA founder, CEO, and test pilot Kyle Clark took the production version of the ALIA eCTOL for its first flight, as shown in the video below.

BETA Technologies is a fully integrated aircraft electronics and systems engineer based in Vermont. Three years ago, it released its first electric take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.ALIA–250. That BETA spacecraft has since been renamed the ALIA VTOL and completed mid-air flight testing this past April.

In addition to the ALIA VTOL, BETA is also developing a conventional electric take-off and landing (eCTOL) aircraft called the ALIA CTOL. To date, it has flown tens of thousands of test miles en route to test flights for FAA certification. That aircraft is aiming for full certification for commercial operations in 2025.

As BETA gets closer to bringing the ALIA CTOL to the public, it has completed its first production build in South Burlington. Pursuing a Special Certificate of Airworthiness from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), BETA successfully took the production-ready ALIA CTOL to flight test, piloted by its founder and CEO.

Watch the BETA inventor complete a CTOL test flight

BETA Technologies shared details of its successful CTOL test flight production today alongside the images above and the full video below.

When the production objective of ALIA CTOL was completed, the FAA tested the aircraft for safety and compliance before granting BETA a Special Airworthiness Certificate for Test and Development, Market Survey, and Crew Training, signing off on test flights. .

On November 13, BETA CEO, founder, and test pilot Kyle Clark made the first test flight of the ALIA CTOL aircraft, which lasted about an hour. The test included a normal runway takeoff before the aircraft climbed to 7,000 feet.

While airborne, Clark tested the aircraft's handling qualities, stability, control checkpoints, and increased airspeed before completing several approaches before a normal landing. Clark spoke following the successful flight:

This launch of our CX300 production flight test campaign is the result of years of hard work and focus on studying customer needs, rigorous engineering, manufacturing, production, quality and testing. It represents an important milestone for BETA, and is the start of an exciting new phase for the business. With this, we are closer to putting this technology in the hands of our customers.

We learned a lot from this first production build. We weren't just building an airline, we were building and refining a system to build quality aircraft the right way. This initial build allowed the team to gather data and insights about manufacturing operations, tooling, processes, benefits and sequencing, all of which are used to refine our manufacturing plans.

With its production test flight now underway, BETA says it will continue to test the ALIA CTOL aircraft for the required 50 hours before qualifying for Market Survey and Crew Training certification. That next certification will allow BETA to fly out of Burlington and Plattsburgh and continue to train more pilots on the plane.

The joint venture will continue production of additional aircraft, including the ALIA CTOL and ALIA VTOL designs, the latter of which was recently teased in October. You can watch a video of the BETA CTOL flight below.