First production-line CX300 makes first flight

BETA Technologies made the first flight of its production-line built CX300 at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport (KBTV) in Vermont on Nov. 13, 2024.

The CX300 is powered by BETA’s Model H500A electric motor and is a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft.

A pre-production CX300 has flown more than 40,000 nautical miles, according to company officials.

BETA founder and CEO Kyle Clark was at the controls for this first flight.

“While in the air, Clark tested the aircraft’s handling qualities, stability, control test points, and initial airspeed expansion before completing several approaches ahead of a normal landing,” reported Electrek.co.

“On Nov. 13, BETA Technologies completed the first flight of an electric aircraft built on its scaled production line,” wrote BETA in its YouTube description of the first production-line CX300. “Within a year, BETA has gone from a certificate of occupancy on its 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in South Burlington, Vermont, to fully installed tooling, an organized supply chain, and manufactured propulsion systems — to rolling an aircraft off its production line, getting a certificate of airworthiness by the FAA, and flying it.”