The trip offered a vision of what aviation could look like years from now — one in which the skies are filled with aircraft that do not emit the greenhouse gases that are dangerously warming up the Earth.
But technological advancements, particularly in batteries, and billions of dollars of investment have helped make short-distance electric air travel feasible — and, its backers hope, commercially viable.
The company employs about 600 people, mostly in Vermont, and recently finished building a factory in Burlington where it plans to mass produce its aircraft, which have yet to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Bristow Group, another customer, plans to use the aircraft the way it uses helicopters today, to transport goods and people to offshore energy installations, run search and rescue missions for governments, and for other purposes.
The company also built a prototype landing site for aircraft capable of vertical flight, which sits atop repurposed shipping containers, which house energy storage and a small living space for pilots to rest between trips.
The day that Beta’s aircraft left Burlington in October, Mr. Caputo flew it on two legs, arriving at sunset at Griffiss International Airport in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, near where he grew up.
The original article contains 1,423 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The trip offered a vision of what aviation could look like years from now — one in which the skies are filled with aircraft that do not emit the greenhouse gases that are dangerously warming up the Earth.
But technological advancements, particularly in batteries, and billions of dollars of investment have helped make short-distance electric air travel feasible — and, its backers hope, commercially viable.
The company employs about 600 people, mostly in Vermont, and recently finished building a factory in Burlington where it plans to mass produce its aircraft, which have yet to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Bristow Group, another customer, plans to use the aircraft the way it uses helicopters today, to transport goods and people to offshore energy installations, run search and rescue missions for governments, and for other purposes.
The company also built a prototype landing site for aircraft capable of vertical flight, which sits atop repurposed shipping containers, which house energy storage and a small living space for pilots to rest between trips.
The day that Beta’s aircraft left Burlington in October, Mr. Caputo flew it on two legs, arriving at sunset at Griffiss International Airport in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, near where he grew up.
The original article contains 1,423 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!