The FAA issued an experimental special airworthiness certificate for Heart Aerospace’s X1 demonstrator last week, allowing the company to begin flight testing at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York. Heart announced the authorization Thursday and said the FAA reviewed the aircraft, supporting documents and proposed test operations before issuing the certificate.
X1 Nears First Flight
The authorization follows a ground-test program that covered the aircraft’s structure, propulsion and other systems. Heart also completed low- and high-speed taxi testing. The X1 has a 106-foot wingspan, measures 76 feet in length and has a takeoff weight exceeding 25,000 pounds. Heart expects it to become the largest electric aircraft flown to date.
“With our certificate now in hand, our full focus is on flight,” Heart Aerospace founder and CEO Anders Forslund said in the company announcement.
Heart has not disclosed a specific date for the first flight, which had previously been planned for 2025.
Supporting The ES-30 Program
The piloted X1 will collect information on flight characteristics and electric-propulsion performance. Heart plans to use the results during development of the ES-30, a proposed 30-seat hybrid-electric regional aircraft. The company said its demonstrator will also allow Heart to test flight operations and development procedures before later ES-30 prototypes enter the program.
Heart currently lists an all-electric range of 125 miles and a hybrid range of 500 miles for the ES-30. The company is targeting type certification in 2031. The production aircraft would use battery power on shorter flights and hybrid propulsion when additional range is required.
By 2030, it should be possible to get 500 miles with just battery electric. Beta already has a practical range of about 250 NM for their 6 person conventional take off plane and has demonstrated over 300 NM. Note that scaling favors longer range with larger aircraft. Samsung has announced a solid state lithium battery with 500 Whr/kg, fast charging and long life. This compares to the best current lithium ion batteries with about 260 to 280 Whr/kg. Also, Lyten, a US company, is producing lithium sulfur batteries that may have even higher energy density that are currently being used for long range drones. They also claim lower prices as they do not use nickel, manganese or cobalt but I have not seen data on charging rates or longevity.
I’d suggest the real number would be how many seat-miles the plane can produce a day, not what the range is. It might have a 500 mile range and b e able to carry 30 passengers that far, but if it can only do that once or twice a day, that’ll stack up poorly against JetA. Obviously reduced engine maintenance costs would move the need the other direction.