Beta Technologies eVTOL air taxi prototype

This video shows a test flight of an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft from Beta Technologies—though in this test it’s executing a fixed-rotor stability test in forward flight. (Vertical tests will come later.) It includes commentary from company founder Kyle Clark.

Beta has a launch customer, manufactured organs developer United Therapeutics. The prototype, called Ava, will execute a cross-country flight in the spring or summer of 2019, at the same time that the final production configuration will be revealed. Beta has executed more than 170 flights in the aircraft, which can reach a top speed of 170 mph and has a range of 150 miles.