en.Wedoany.com Reported - Heart Aerospace's X1 demonstrator completed its first flight on Wednesday at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York. The company stated that the full-scale Heart X1 is the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown. The manned flight lasted 27 minutes, reaching an altitude of 1,100 feet above ground level (AGL), with the X1's battery-electric propulsion system generating over 1 megawatt of power during the flight.

The test flight included taxiing, takeoff, climb, maneuvering, and landing, conducted under an experimental special airworthiness certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Anders Forslund, founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace, stated in a company announcement that with the first flight of the X1, Heart has demonstrated electric flight at commercial airliner scale.

The X1 has a wingspan of 106 feet, a length of 76 feet, and a takeoff weight exceeding 25,000 pounds. After completing ground tests including structural, propulsion, systems, and taxi testing, the FAA issued a special airworthiness certificate for the aircraft in July. Heart stated at the time that it planned to use the demonstrator to collect flight characteristics and electric propulsion data.

Heart is leveraging the X1 program to support the development of its ES-30, a planned 30-seat hybrid-electric regional aircraft. The company has begun construction of the first pre-production ES-30 at its pilot manufacturing facility in Los Angeles, with plans to begin flight testing of the aircraft in 2028, targeting entry into service for the ES-30 in 2031.