First Flight of Electric Aircraft by US Air Force Pilots

Two US Air Force pilots flew BETA Technologies’ electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, ALIA, as the first-ever Airmen to fly an electric aircraft with a military airworthiness.
This milestone, which took place at BETA’s Plattsburgh, New York, facility on March 9 the culmination of a two-year partnership between BETA and the US Air Force's Agility Prime program.
The ALIA aircraft, which has been in development for over three years, is fully electric with zero operational emissions.
With ALIA, BETA has targeted a range of 250 nautical miles and a current top speed of approximately 150 knots, with a recharge time of under an hour and a wingspan of 50 feet. In addition to the aircraft, BETA is also rolling out a cross-country charging infrastructure to power electric transportation.
Since partnering in 2020, Air Force engineers have worked alongside BETA’s flight test team to develop and refine the ALIA aircraft to make electric aviation a reality. ALIA has made significant technical advancements throughout the partnership. In addition to last week’s achievement, in 2021, BETA was also awarded the first Air Force airworthiness approval for an electric aircraft with personnel on board.

Before completing their historic test flight, the two USAF pilots- Griffiths and Appleby underwent extensive safety and preparedness training which covered every aspect of piloting ALIA, including individual courses on its structures, batteries, electric motors, flight controls, aerodynamics, and avionics as well as preflight and extensive safety training.
On March 8, both pilots underwent simulator training where they were able to fly the exact test flight route planned for the demonstration.
Following this training, on March 9, Griffiths and Appleby took turns piloting ALIA for several flight demonstrations, becoming the first Air Force pilots to fly in an eVTOL aircraft. In the aircraft with Griffiths and Appleby sat BETA test pilot Camron Guthrie and Lochie Ferrier.

"Today's Air Force qualitative evaluation flight is the first of many that we will be doing with BETA Technologies and our other Agility Prime vendors,” Griffiths said. "We are also evaluating these prototypes for opportunities to utilize them for unique military missions.”