Beta Alia N314BT is now part of Bristow’s fleet at Stavanger Airport in Denmark. Bristow is self-described as, “the world’s leading provider of helicopter transportation to energy customers, search and rescue (SAR) and aircraft support solutions to government and civil organizations.” The company serves clients in Africa, the Americas, Australia, and throughout Europe. In this northern-most location, Beta Alias could deliver personnel, equipment, and supplies to even more remote locales.
Initiating the Grand Tour
Beta’s Alia arrived by ship at Shannon Airport, Ireland in May 2025, ready for its Grand Tour of Europe. Beta pilots flew a series of sub-300-mile hops on their way north on what would prove to be a delivery flight. After delighting the locals with trips brushing the cliffs along the airport site, the pilots prepared for a 153 nautical mile VFR (Visual Flight Rules) jaunt. This, and each subsequent hop added to the over 100,000 miles Beta craft have accumulated in the last few years.
Flyer Magazine reported that its first hop was to Weston Airport, Dublin. “From there it made a one-hour, 18 mnute hop across the Irish Sea to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, covering 153 nautical miles (283 kilometers). Pilots Chad Nichols and Chris Caputo probably appreciated the design of the single motor, essentially two independent units driving a single Hartzell propeller through a common shaft.
Beta H500A pusher motor provides dual redundancy
For areas without adequate landing strips, Beta’s V600A provides 4X redundancy, with four stators and four inverters. Four of those 455 kilowatt (610 horsepower) motors atop the eVTOL version of Alia would equal 16X redundancy. In flying over fjords and mountains, that level of backup would be reassuring, indeed.
Beta VT600A provedes qualdruple redundancy
Irish Sea Crossing
Wikipedia lists theAlia’s May 24, 2025 crossing as the first by an electric aircraft. others having preceded by balloon, (1817(!), and in a Bleriot XI in 1917. Beta’s superb engineering made this aeronautical first a far more comfortable and secure crossing.
“From Liverpool, the Alia flew to Birmingham in 43 minutes, arriving at Coventry Airport.”
Beta explained, “Our pilots flew and filed the 153-nautical mile (283-kilometer) route VFR, but arrived with IFR energy reserves, demonstrating the aircraft’s regional range.” That was exactly a year ago.
Nextm at Boscombe Down, “the UK’s oldest military testing site,” the Beta pilots flew “with our friends at the Empire Test Pilot School. It was a thrill for ALIA to join the rich legacy of aircraft and militar testing that’s taken place there over the past century plus.
Beta N214BT meets Britain’s Vertical Aerospace VX4 at the Empire Test Pilot School. Note Beta wearing new livery for the event
ALIA touched down at Farnborough, historic site of so many aviation firsts in the UK. “We’re honored to add the flight of an all-electric aircraft to the impressive list. It was great to meet with so many friends and partners from across the UK!”
Bypassing the busy skies over London, Beta flew east toward London Ashford the eastern-most airport on the isle. We took a quick pause to enjoy the cool offerings of Kent’s public airport and take in the beauty of the water before crossing it.
English Channel Crossing
In a short jump compared the crossing of the Irish Sea, the inteipid Beta flyers left London Ashford Airport (Romney Marsh, UK) and flew into Pontoise Cormeilles Airport (Pontoise, France). A frst for Beta , the crossing covered 145 nautical miles, 50 of which were over water. “landing with plenty of reserves.”
The Paris Air Show
During the 2025 Paris Air Show, “ALIA took to the skies each day, flying presentation flights in front of more than 600,000 attendees while our team showcased our business and technology at The Gallery, our spot on the static display area.”
The Beta team passed thorugh Châlons-Vatry in the Champagne region of France then made a stop in Metz=Nancy-Lorraine before before crossing into Luxembourg.
Landing at Luxembourg Findel Airport, “It was great to land in the founding nation of the EU, with such a central role in aviation cargo.”
Many countries in Europe are small enough that hopping across their boundaires is much like touring the eastern states in America.
Cologne is a hub for aviation and e-commerce given the strategic location of its airport. We stopped over there to spend some time with existing and prospective customers, conducting flight demos and route validation exercises.
Ted Dudley, one of the pilots, reflected on the ideal setting. “Lovely low-level flight through the Ruhr valley on a cloudless summer day”
Cruiainf into Hamburg for the first of two stops, the team prepared to head further north and west into Sonderberg, Denmark, first airport in the .country to install a digital tower system.
The country’s eagerness to addapt “future-focused mobility solutions” ia fitting complement thoir high-tech visitor, “So we were excited to fly ALIA into Copenhagen Airport, by way of Sønderborg, to share our technology to some of the country’s primary transportation and industry leaders.”
Beta’s description continued, “Before heading south again, the pilots stopped in Odense at Hans Christian Andersen Airport, named after the famous children’s author best known for The Little Mermaid.
We returned to Hamburg for a quick stop and were joined by some familiar faces who were excited to check out ALIA. “
After taking a brief break, t he team headed toward its final destination and the start of building a charging network for this horther region.
Having passed 86,000 hours of propulsion system testing, Beta is demonstrating their 98-percent efficiency and ability to survive in varied climes with expanded operations in America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and Dubai, for starters.
The blog will compare that to work from Joby, Archer and Autoflight. We will add other competitors as they become commercially viable. Note that all of t hese firms are internally self-sufficient, crafting their airfroms, motors, controllers and (most) batteries. The vast numbers of startups that appeared over the last decade have been assimilated or disappeared, but the survivors will make for an interesting market.
We will rejoin Beta as another Alia continues the Grand Tour as it turns south, probably continuing to spread its charger network across the European continent.
