By Rick Steelhammer
For Charleston Gazette-Mail
The era of electrical aviation made its debut Friday in Charleston as a battery-powered BETA Technologies Alia CX300 made a low pass over Marshall University’s Bill Noe Flight School, wagged its wings and, a few moments later, touched down at West Virginia International Yeager Airport.
The rear-mounted, single-engine aircraft then taxied almost silently toward the flight school’s hangar, near which the Charleston airport had recently installed a $327,500 electric-aircraft charging station. There, it was greeted by a cheering crowd of about 200, made up of flight school students, Marshall staffers, airport officers, elected officials and invited guests.
“This is Serial No. 1 of our aircraft,” Chris Caputo, chief of flight operations for Vermont-based BETA Technologies, said soon after he emerged from the cockpit of the five-passenger aircraft and began fielding questions from onlookers.
“Since its first flight on Nov. 16, 2024,” he said, “it’s flown coast to coast multiple times and logged 750 hours of flight time. In my opinion, it’s way safer, more efficient and easier to fly than anything out there.”
With the installation of its new aircraft charging station, the Charleston airport became part of a network of 65 airports across the nation — most them located east of the Mississippi — capable of recharging the lithium ion batteries used by BETA’s Alia aircraft in about 35 minutes. The airports serving Martinsburg and Lewisburg also are part of that network, with Huntington’s Tri-State Airport soon to follow. More than 100 charging stations are expected to be operational in coming months.
In July, BETA began flying cargo and medical supplies between locations in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, using its Alia CX300 aircraft. In its cargo configuration, the Alia CX300 has a capacity of about 200 cubic feet and 1,250 pounds.
Five Alia CX300 aircraft are now flying, “with five more coming off the line soon,” according to Caputo. The BETA Alias have a cruising speed of 120 to 155 miles per hour and can operate at airports with runways under 2,500 feet long.
BETA also is producing a battery-powered vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL, aircraft, the Alia A250, designed for shorter-range missions to runway-optional locations. Only one of the electric VTOL aircraft is currently flying.
Electric aircraft workforce training
Marshall’s Bill Noe Flight School was the site of Friday’s event because the university and BETA Technologies have formed a partnership focusing on electric aircraft workforce development and training.
“Our aviation program is not solely about teaching students to fly — it is about preparing them to lead in one of the world’s most dynamic and essential industries,” Marshall President Brad D. Smith said at the ceremony announcing the partnership, held in the flight school’s hangar. “This is a milestone moment for Marshall University aviation, as we look toward the future of aviation.”
Smith announced that Marshall will acquire two Alia CX300 aircraft — the airplane that made the inaugural landing at CRW and was the first to use the airport’s new charging cube — and a new aircraft of the same model expected to be delivered early next year.
“BETA is investing in the entire ecosystem that makes electric aviation possible — the aircraft, the charging network and the people who will fly and maintain them,” said Blain Newton, BETA’s chief information officer.
With electric-aircraft chargers now online in Charleston, Lewisburg, Martinsburg and, soon, Huntington, “we’re connecting the state to a growing network and laying the groundwork for new possibilities in regional transportation,” Newton said. “We imagine a future where these aircraft connect small towns to hospitals, to jobs and to each other. It’s exciting to share that progress with Marshall University and its students, who represent the next generation of aviation professionals.”
The new partnership with BETA Technologies “establishes Marshall University as an early adopter of — and regional leader in — advanced air mobility education,” said Bill Noe, Marshall’s chief aviation officer and the flight school’s namesake. “By embedding electric propulsion, thermal management and modern flight controls directly into our flight and maintenance programs, we are ensuring our graduates are ready to lead the aerospace industry into the future while driving economic opportunity across Appalachia.”
Real-world trials and production expectations
BETA is building and flying its small fleet of Alia CX300s under a Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness certificate program, allowing the company to conduct extensive real-world trials of the aircraft. Mass production can begin after the company receives full FAA Type Certification for the aircraft, which the company expects to happen later this year or in early 2027.
BETA, a multibillion dollar publicly traded company, operates a 200,000-square-foot production plant in South Burlington, Vermont. The company will be capable of producing up to 300 aircraft annually, after full FAA certification.
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