The Federal Aviation Administration has granted BETA Technologies’ ALIA VTOL, designated A250, a Special Airworthiness Certificate for market surveys, the first such authorisation for an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. The approval allows the Vermont-based company to fly with prospective operators and other stakeholders before full type certification and commercial service, subject to FAA operating limitations.
Issued under Part 21, the certificate expands BETA’s ability to demonstrate the A250 across a wider geographic area. The aircraft completed its first flight under the authorisation on 20 October, taking off vertically from Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, transitioning to wing-borne flight and landing vertically at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport in Vermont. The 34-nautical-mile flight took 20 minutes.
The new approval extends beyond BETA’s earlier market-survey authorisation for its conventional take-off and landing aircraft, which did not cover the A250’s vertical operations. The company’s CTOL and VTOL aircraft have flown more than 250,000 nautical miles combined.
The A250 shares propulsion, flight-control, battery and charging technologies with BETA’s CTOL aircraft. It is designed to operate from sites with or without runways and has dual-pilot controls, with a stated capacity of up to five passengers or more than 1,200 pounds of cargo. The certificate does not permit unrestricted commercial passenger operations; BETA continues to pursue full type certification and commercial launch.