Aircraft
Heart Aerospace Flies X1 Electric Demonstrator Aircraft
X1 demonstrator largest all-electric aircraft ever flown
Heart X1 flying over lake at sunset
The all-electric X1 measures 76 feet long, 106 feet wide, and weighed more than 24,000 lbs at takeoff. © Heart Aerospace

Heart Aerospace has completed the inaugural flight of its X1 technology demonstrator aircraft, which the start-up said is the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown. The milestone—which lasted a total of 27 minutes—took place on Wednesday from California-based Heart’s flight test base at New York’s Plattsburgh International Airport.

“With the first flight of X1, Heart Aerospace has demonstrated electric flight at the scale of a commercial airliner,” said founder and CEO Anders Forslund. During the flight, which was conducted under an FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate in the Experimental Category (SAC-EC), the aircraft reached an altitude of 1,100 feet agl while its all-electric propulsion system delivered over one megawatt of power. 

In this article