Houston-based Bristow Group, one of the largest helicopter operators in the world, has become the first of Beta Technologies’ commercial customers to operate a test flight with the Alia aircraft.
Bristow plans to deploy both Beta’s fixed-wing CX300 eCTOL, targeted for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification in 2025, and the Alia-250 eVTOL aircraft, which the advanced air mobility developer is aiming to get certified around a year after the eCTOL.
Bryan Willows, Bristow’s program manager for advanced air mobility, joined Beta test pilot Chris Caputo for the Aug. 22 qualitative evaluation flight in the Alia aircraft being used to support development of both the eCTOL and eVTOL.
The Alia took off using a conventional roll requiring 2,000 feet (610 meters) of runway at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, where Beta has its testing site, and then climbed to 5,000 ft. (1,525 m), Willows told Vertical. Top speed during the 55-minute flight was 95 to 100 knots (175 to 185 kilometers per hour), he added. During the flight, Willows completed a standard flight profile, including stalls and slow flight, as well as takeoffs and landing, which was also done conventionally.
The Alia was “instantaneously responsive because it has an electric motor,” Willows said, describing “just how smooth the whole flight felt.” The Alia has “very, very low vibration,” he added.
Pilots from the U.S. Air Force, Army and FAA have all conducted test flights on the Alia, but Willows was the first to represent a commercial customer.
“Getting Bryan, a powered lift pilot, in the cockpit of our aircraft gave us the opportunity to collect invaluable feedback,” Beta’s Caputo said. “As we drive toward certification and commercialization, giving our operators the opportunity to get hands-on with the technology will help us deliver the safest aircraft possible to our customers for an array of mission sets.”
Bristow executive vice president of sales and chief transformation officer Dave Stepanek told Vertical the company’s initial use cases for Beta’s aircraft will focus on “business-to-business, supporting our current customer base for their logistics needs.” While types of services may expand later, “we think there are tremendous use cases for business-to-business logistics,” including moving workers. He added that operations could eventually evolve “into regional mobility” at some point.
Stepanek noted both the CX300 eCTOL and Alia-250 eVTOL can be configured for cargo or passengers (with capacity for six passengers), and combo versions of both can be quickly transitioned between passenger and cargo configurations.
Though it is largely associated with vertical lift, Bristow believes the CX300 eCTOL will fit well in its fleet. “Although we are keen on vertical takeoff and landing, we operate primarily from airports,” Stepanek explained. “It’s not a short takeoff and landing aircraft, but you can land and take off on a relatively short basis [around 2,000 feet]. So, we’ll be able to operate this aircraft as a conventional aircraft … It actually helps us because we’ll be able to expand the range capabilities and payload capabilities” of Bristow’s operations.
Bristow will be mostly an observer as Beta conducts flight testing, but is ready to play a supporting role in aircraft development. “We’re going to rely on Beta to be the subject matter experts for testing the aircraft,” Stepanek said. “Our next steps are to work with them to ensure that the things that they’re testing or designing have commercial applications for us, so that we can put the aircraft into commercial operations as quickly as possible. We can explain to them how we generally plan to operate and in which environments.”
He added: “We’re going to be working together to ensure that we have a workforce that can train pilots, engineers and ground staff to safely operate the aircraft.”
Bristow officials also went to South Burlington, Vermont, to see Beta’s new aircraft production facility under development, which will eventually span more than 355,000 square feet (33,000 square meters).
“We were up there to do a program review of where things are,” Stapanek said, adding the facility demonstrates a “commitment and is really a statement that [Beta’s aircraft are] coming. This is real.”
