The X1 flew for 27 minutes at Plattsburgh on 12 August, at 25,000 pounds on batteries alone.
The week in air transport: one first flight, two proposed directives and one final rule from the FAA, a tenth Dreamliner for Aeroméxico, and new leadership at Gol.
Battery-electric flight at 25,000 pounds takeoff weight is now on the public record, with a date and a place.
Key points
- First flight of the Heart X1 on 12 August: 27 minutes, 1,100 feet, more than one megawatt, under an experimental certificate
- Two FAA proposals on the A330, A340 and Trent 1000, comments due 28 September; one final rule on the ATR 42 and 72, effective 18 September
- AerCap's tenth 787 to Aeroméxico; a new chief executive at Gol; a TSA order to Mitre for an airline-sector cybersecurity profile
Heart Aerospace's X1 demonstrator made its first flight on Wednesday 12 August from Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York.1 The company puts the aircraft at 106 feet of span and more than 25,000 pounds at takeoff, and says the piloted flight lasted 27 minutes, reached 1,100 feet above the ground and drew more than one megawatt from an all-electric propulsion system.1 It flew under an FAA special airworthiness certificate in the experimental category.1 The X1 is the demonstrator for the ES-30, a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airliner Heart is aiming at entry into service in 2031.1
