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VFS began covering electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology and developments in 2013, and held the world’s first public discussion of eVTOL at the Transformative Vertical Flight workshop in August 2014.
CAE will provide pilot and maintenance technician training programs for the Beta Technologies Alia eVTOL aircraft in a strategic partnership announced on Sept. 15.
Leadership Moves, September-October 2021
Actor, director and activist Christopher Reeve said in a 1996 speech, “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
On April 7, United Parcel Service (UPS) announced that its UPS Flight Forward subsidiary plans to purchase and operate cargo aircraft from Burlington, Vermont-based Beta Technologies.
The US Air Force officially launched its Agility Prime initiative when it issued a request for information (RFI) on Dec. 17, 2019 — the 116th anniversary of the Wright Flyer making the first heavier-than-air powered flight. In the first intake of companies in the Air Force’s “Air Race to Certification,” some 20 eVTOL companies applied to participate.
This year, the US Air Force’s Agility Prime initiative will help finance the flight test and certification efforts of about 20 different eVTOL aircraft participating in its “Air Race to Certification” program.
The Vertical Flight Society has been working to advance electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft since 2013, providing technical, professional and business resources to this burgeoning sector. As a leading advocate of the “Electric VTOL Revolution,” VFS has been holding its Electric VTOL Symposiums since 2014, started its Electric VTOL Newsletter in 2016, and launched its Electric VTOL website in 2017.
June 12 saw the much-awaited unveiling of Beta Technologies’ Alia eVTOL when the company authorized journalist Eric Adams (a past Vertiflite contributor) to release photos and information on the aircraft.
The US Air Force got an unexpected payoff in April from, of all things, the novel coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 led the service to officially launch Agility Prime — its initiative to boost electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and related technologies — online instead of live. Broad participation by senior military officers and government officials in the quickly organized “virtual conference” showed significant support for Agility Prime within federal ranks.
