Heart Aerospace has flown its X1 demonstrator for the first time, with the full-scale aircraft taking off from Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York on Wednesday. The 27-minute piloted mission reached 1,100 feet above ground level and used more than one megawatt of power, while the company described X1 as the largest battery-electric aircraft ever to fly.
The aircraft is a testbed for Heart’s ES-30 programme and is intended to validate key technologies, aerodynamics, flight performance and the company’s wider industrial capability. X1 spans 106 feet, measures 76 feet from nose to tail and weighed more than 25,000 pounds at take-off. The flight was conducted under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate in the Experimental Category.
Heart framed the sortie as a demonstration of all-electric flight at a scale relevant to commercial airline operations. The mission also highlighted the low operating cost of the flight itself, which the company placed at about $5 in electricity. X1 is a demonstrator rather than the planned 30-seat aircraft, so the milestone remains technical rather than a step toward passenger service.