BETA Technologies said it finished five days of all-electric medical cargo flights in Utah on Oct. 7 with the Utah Department of Transportation. KSL reported the ALIA CX300 was shown at the department's hangar at Salt Lake City International Airport. Hard Tech Week is scheduled for Oct. 26-30 in Salt Lake City and across Utah, Visit Salt Lake reported.
Airport Demonstration
UDOT said the Oct. 7 flight, flown with BETA and 47G, was the latest operation under uFLY, the department's multi-state effort to learn how electric aircraft could fit passenger trips, cargo, medical runs and emergency response. KSL reported the showcase was held Wednesday at that airport hangar.
The department said the ALIA is fully electric and is meant to fly from airports that already exist, using familiar aviation procedures. UDOT said the conventional-takeoff version, the ALIA CTOL, has posted a maximum range of 336 nautical miles and can haul freight and urgent medical supplies. KSL reported that Blain Newton, BETA's chief information officer, put the present reach at about 300 to 400 miles depending on weight, and that he said a Monday flight in the series used less than $2 in fuel.
Medical Cargo Clock
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BETA said the series, flown with Alpine Air Express, was part of the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation eVTOL Integration Pilot Program and tried regional hops for radiopharmaceuticals, medicines used to detect and treat diseases including cancer. The company said fluorodeoxyglucose, a drug used in cancer scans and treatment, can drop to half its potency in 110 minutes.
"When you are dealing with radiopharmaceuticals, you are on the clock the second they are produced," Alpine Air Chief Executive Officer Michael Dancy said in BETA's statement. Alpine Air already carries those treatments farther on conventional planes, and the partners plan to log flight time, dispatch reliability, turnaround, charging, weather, performance and cost, the company said.
"This demonstration provides data to help turn these concepts from trial to deployment," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in that announcement. BETA said it is in seven of the eight pilot programs chosen nationwide and has already flown operational missions in Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana, Texas and North Carolina.
Olympics Partnership
BETA and 47G said in January 2025 that they would bring electric aircraft and charging equipment to Utah to ground a statewide advanced air mobility network ahead of the 2034 Olympics, and the company said the October flights started acting on that plan. UDOT said BETA is building a high-speed Charge Cube at Salt Lake City International Airport and already has chargers in other parts of the state.
"Through uFLY, companies like BETA can test this technology in real-world conditions," UDOT Commissioner Carlos Braceras said. "Utah has never been a state that waits for the future to happen," President J. Stuart Adams said in the department's release. "Twenty years from now, you'll see much bigger aircraft," Newton said, according to KSL. He told the station Utah has 46 regional airports that could later take advanced air service at a larger scale.
Hard Tech Week Calendar
Visit Salt Lake said aerospace and defense work makes up 19% of Utah's economy, with output above $100 billion and roughly 500,000 jobs, and noted that boosters for NASA's Artemis moon flights were built in Promontory. The bureau reported more than 50 events on the week's calendar, most of them free, presented by 47G with Utah Tech Week, Nucleus and Silicon Slopes.
A hackathon sponsored by Torus and Nucleus, with a cash prize, is scheduled to start Monday, with demonstrations Wednesday and winners named on the main stage of the Zero Gravity Summit, Visit Salt Lake reported. That Monday evening, an opening party for about 500 people is planned at Traeger headquarters, presented by OTW Safety with a space-cowboy theme.
The summit, the week's flagship, is set for Oct. 28-29 at the Salt Palace Convention Center, with keynotes, panels and live demonstrations. Tours of drone companies and manufacturers, plus dinners and networking, are planned through the week, and Visit Salt Lake said many tours have limited room.
