Beta Technologies’ Alia comes in two variants, eVTOL and eCTOL. The electric Vertical Take Off and Landing version and electric Conventional Take Off and Landing version have demonstrated their abilities in their full flight ranges, flown a total of 40,000 miles, and helped show off the company’s electric charging network.
Nearly identical, the eVTOL side adds four vertical lifters
Founded by Kyle Clark and Dr. Martine Rothblatt, head of United Therapeutics, Beta grew from the need to transport human organs quickly from donors to recipients.
Dr. Rothblatt has a fascinating background, described in her medical company’s web site.
“Dr. Rothblatt founded United Therapeutics in 1996 and has served as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer since its inception. Previously, she created the satellite radio company SiriusXM. She is an inventor or co-inventor on nine U.S. patents, with additional applications pending. Her pioneering book, Your Life or Mine: How Geoethics Can Resolve the Conflict Between Private and Public Interests in Xenotransplantation*, anticipated the need both for global virus bio-surveillance and a greatly expanded supply of transplantable organs.
“Dr. Rothblatt has also analyzed the socio-ethical issues of human-like cyber competencies, as are emerging from large language models, in her 2014 book Virtually Human.”
The story would be astonishing enough, but there’s more. A Harvard Business Review podcast explains, “When serial entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt (founder of Sirius XM) received her seven-year-old daughter’s diagnosis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), she created United Therapeutics and developed a drug to save her life. When her daughter later needed a lung transplant, Rothblatt decided to take what she saw as the logical next step: manufacturing organs for transplantation.”
Now, add to those credentials – Test Pilot.
Alia Itself
Both versions of the Alia are pushed along by an H500A electric motor turning an improbably small-diameter propeller. That and the long thin wings don’t indicate the Alia is an STOL aircraft. Some have commented on YouTube about the lack of lift-off and touch-down videos. Beta Technologies is playing its strengths, offering an eVTOL option for close-in operations and relying on conventional airports for other deliveries.
eVTOL versions will have four V600A lift motors, two to each boom driving large scimitar-like rotors. The simplicity of the design does not require pivoting or articulation of the blades and allows both versions to share the same airframe.
As explained by the company, the eVTOL version can use vertiports, while the eCTOL version is confined to airports. Either works to deliver the essential cargos on board, though.
Alia in UPS livery is slated for testing in the United Arab Emerirates
UPS and Beta, for instance, have been granted license to test the Alia for cargo deliveries in the United Arab Emirates. Thanks to a license granted by the UAE government, UPS will be able to test their new sustainable aircraft.
Laura Lane, UPS EVP and Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer, explains, “We’re accelerating our journey to decarbonize the future of flight and these aircraft will help us get there. As a company, we’ve made a commitment to 100% carbon neutrality by 2050. And we’ve set clear goals to get there such as sourcing 30% of aviation fuel from sustainable sources by 2035.”
The U. S. Air Force completed testing of casualty evacuations with the Alia in January, explaining similar operations with C-130 aircraft would take more crew and fuel. Use of the Beta Alia “demonstrates key impacts electric aviation can have on military services, including increase in response time at the [forward operating base]. The [Alia] was able to initiate the movement of the Quick Response Force sooner than if it had to move the patient to definitive medical care.”
A Flight Around the Big Apple
We end with a great video of the Alia floating over the Manhattan skyline.
In the meantime, private industry and the military seem to have an affinity for these purpose-built aircraft and are finding ever more roles for them. The future looks good for Beta Technologies.