Beta Technologies announced yesterday that air medical aircraft operator Metro Aviation has placed a deposit-backed order (deposit amount not specified) for up to 20 of Beta’s developmental ALIA vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Currently operating 170 aircraft as part of 42 separate air medical programs over 27 states, Metro said it plans to incorporate the ALIA aircraft into its existing network “to ultimately carry out both inter-hospital and scene transports.”
Are companies really putting money into products that don’t exist, with no clear pathway to certification, and to use for medical transport and emergencies? Even if the existed and were legal to operate there is no safety track record to rely on. Putting patients and doctors and nurses/medics in this? Has the world run out of helicopters?
There is no infrastructure either. Charging stations, mechanics, advanced simulator training. What about spare parts? Battery replacement? Fire risk and mitigation, not just for the aircraft but for the hospital as well.
Multiple prototypes DO exist, and they are actively building infrastructure (charging stations) already. For this use case, there will likely be charging stations at home base / base hospital.
Which is probably why this deal happened - this company is actually flying and building the required infrastructure.
You forgot number six – health insurance will pay through the nose.
But really, if you are talking about the 50 km over cities hospital transfers they seem to be, so much still to do.
After 50 km will they need to recharge on the hospital landing pad, for example? And will they be able to do that without blocking the pad for other landings – in most places it is forbidden to park helicopters on hospital landing pads?
And so on.
For an operation that often pairs low-time pilots with hazardous situations, this is probably a great use for autonomous electric VTOLs. Quick change battery packs stored and charged at hospitals will probably mitigate the downsides of electric
For tiny cities and only occasional usage, this just might work.
When there is a grid down natural disaster and lots of people need help immediately, these things are less that worthless.
What is the aircraft’s emergency backup when the batteries or motors fail, which some probably will? A BRS? Can it glide without power? Autorotate? How can five entropy-generating rotors be more efficient than a single main rotor on a conventional helicopter? No way is this quieter when all five props are spinning. Do the lift rotors disappear into those drag-producing pods when not in use? The pods/booms will have to be very strong (heavy) to transmit vertical loads. If they can make it without a penny of taxpayer funding, subsidies, claptrap enviro arguments, etc. then more power to them. But I sure as heck would not ride in one of the Rube Goldbergs.