The US Federal Aviation Administration has cleared BETA Technologies to fly prospective customers on board its electric ALIA A250, an aircraft that takes off and lands vertically. The approval is a Special Airworthiness Certificate for market surveys, and according to BETA it is the first of its kind granted to an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The first flight under the new authorisation took place on Tuesday 20 October1.

New York to Vermont in twenty minutes

On that first flight, the A250 took off vertically from Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, transitioned to wing-borne flight and landed vertically at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport in Vermont. It covered 34 nautical miles in 20 minutes, crossing Lake Champlain12. BETA announced the approval on Wednesday 21 October at the NBAA-BACE business aviation show in Las Vegas3.

Passengers on board, but no commercial service yet

The certificate was issued under Part 21 of the FAA regulations. It allows BETA to fly with operators and key stakeholders on board so they can experience the aircraft first-hand, and it widens the area in which BETA may operate, subject to FAA limitations1. Fare-paying passengers are not part of it: Aviation Week reports that the approval does not permit commercial operations, but lets prospective operators get familiar with eVTOL operations, infrastructure, procedures and maintenance ahead of certification and entry into service3. Fare-paying service will require full type certification4.

Founder and CEO Kyle Clark called it "an important step toward commercial adoption". "Operators can now experience the VTOL firsthand and begin planning how it fits into their businesses, from connecting communities to moving people and goods at a lower cost", he said1. Clark told Aviation Week that BETA has logged "significantly more" than the 50 hours of flight testing in a stable configuration that he described as the threshold for the authorisation. "There are days when I look at the charts, and we'll have close to a dozen flights with two pilots in the airplane", he said3.

Five passengers or 540 kg of cargo

The A250 has dual pilot controls and is designed to carry up to five passengers or more than 1,200 lb (540 kg) of cargo, for cargo and logistics, medical transport, defence and passenger roles14. It can operate with or without a runway and shares its propulsion, flight control computers, batteries and charging systems with the runway-based ALIA CX300. Aviation Week puts the commonality at roughly 80 per cent13. Together the two aircraft have flown more than 250,000 nautical miles, according to BETA1.

Earlier milestones, from Norway to Scotland

According to BETA, it flew the first crewed electric VTOL transition, the switch from vertical to wing-borne flight, in 2024 and was the first to receive a market survey authorisation for a conventional takeoff and landing aircraft, its CX30013. In Norway, operator Bristow flew the ALIA on a cargo test route between Stavanger and Bergen for about six months, 126 flights in total, with Bristow pilot Jeremy Degagne landing the final flight in Stavanger on 28 January5. At the end of May the CX300 flew demonstration legs in the Netherlands, from Amsterdam Schiphol via Den Helder and Lelystad to Rotterdam The Hague Airport, before continuing to Ostend in Belgium6. In September BETA flew in Scotland, where a Loganair pilot experienced the ALIA from the passenger seat7.

BETA's sequence is CX300 first, A250 second. "There's a one-year split; everything we do in the VTOL happens about one year after the CTOL", Clark told Aviation Week. With the CX300, BETA takes part in the FAA's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), where five of seven planned launches have taken place, and Clark wants to follow up with Part 135 for-hire operations3. According to Vermont newspaper Seven Days, BETA expects full certification of its eVTOL aircraft in 20282.

Where eVTOL certification stands

In the United States the FAA finalised its powered-lift rule, the category that aircraft such as the A250 fall into, in October 2024. It includes a Special Federal Aviation Regulation that runs for ten years and took effect on 21 January 20258. Joby Aviation reported in August that it is in the fifth and final stage of FAA type certification and is targeting its first passengers in 20269. China issued the world's first eVTOL type certificate in October 2023, to EHang's two-seat EH216-S, which flies without a pilot on board10.

In Europe, the EU aircrew rules now include requirements for type ratings on VTOL-capable aircraft, and in July 2025 EASA published guidance for operating them1112. Germany's Lilium filed for insolvency for the second time in February 2025 and suspended operations13. For another eVTOL programme, see our look at ePlane's e200X air taxi prototype in India.

What it means for pilots

You cannot fly an eVTOL on an ordinary aeroplane or helicopter licence. The FAA requires a type rating for each powered-lift type, and explains why: "Because a powered-lift is essentially a hybrid aircraft, pilots who have completed airplane training or helicopter training are not going to have 1:1 proficiency in a powered-lift." Most of the alternative routes to a powered-lift rating are open only to pilots who already hold a commercial pilot certificate and an instrument rating for another category of aircraft8. EASA takes a similar line: holders of a commercial pilot licence for aeroplanes or helicopters, a CPL(A) or CPL(H), can be issued a type rating for a VTOL-capable aircraft11.

The first eVTOL pilots therefore come from existing aviation. In Norway, a Bristow pilot flew the ALIA5, and on busy test days BETA flies close to a dozen flights with two pilots in the aircraft3. Joby is currently recruiting a manager for the instructors on the S4, its all-electric five-seat aircraft. The posting asks for an FAA commercial pilot certificate with an instrument airplane rating, at least 1,000 hours as pilot in command and experience as both instructor and test pilot, and lists commercial certificates for airplane, powered-lift and rotorcraft as desired14. If you are starting out, both the fixed-wing and the rotary-wing route lead towards eVTOL. Read how to become a helicopter pilot, what helicopter pilot training costs and what a helicopter pilot earns, and compare training options in our flight school directory. BETA's flights in Europe brought it together with Loganair in Scotland and with Bristow in Norway, which also runs a pilot cadet programme. Already qualified? Browse pilot jobs in the United States and all pilot jobs.