ECRWSS PRSRT STD US Postage
PAID
Permit #15 Williston,VT 05495 POSTAL CUSTOMER
MAY 27, 2021
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
Aviation inspiration
a flight simulator, meeting engineers and pilots and touring a model electric plane lab. Wayman’s day at Beta was this Wednesday. On June 11, the company plans a flyover above Williston Central School as part of the students’ Genius Hour open house. BY JASON STARR “This is my dream come true,” Observer staff Wayman said Tuesday. “It’s really Sixth-grader Jonah Wayman exciting. I’m going to learn a lot. has a lot in common with Beta It’s going to be really fun.” Katie Clark, who works in Technologies founder and CEO community outreach and commuKyle Clark. Both are Williston nications for the company, hears Central School-educated, both are echoes of CEO captivated by Kyle Clark (her aviation and both husband) in are bullish on Wayman’s enthuelectric-powered siasm. flight. — Jonah Wayman Kyle Clark Beta TechWilliston Central School grew up in Wilnologies is desixth grade liston and went veloping electric to WCS until airplanes out of his eighth-grade its headquarters at Burlington Inyear, when he moved to Essex. He ternational Airport and two manugraduated from Essex High School facturing facilities on Avenue D in — where he met Katie — and went Williston. Wayman reached out to on to study math and engineering the company as part of his “Genius at Harvard. According to Katie, Hour” project on electric planes in Kyle used a signing bonus from Joy Peterson and Jared Bailey’s huthe Washington Capitals where he manities class at Williston Central. had signed on to play professionT h e al hockey in c o m p a n y, the NHL, to fresh off an instead eneye-poproll in flight ping ($368 school and million) inbecome a livestment censed pilot. announce“Jonah ment from sounds a lot Amazon and like Kyle did Fidelity, prewhen he was sented Waya kid,” Katie man an unsaid. “His forgettable passion for offer: spend Wayman sits in the cockpit of Beta aviation goes Technologies’ Alia electric airplane. a day at the back as long airport, flyas he can remember. And he loves ing in a helicopter piloted by forinspiring kids to fly.” mer Obama Administration Marine The company’s community One pilot Nick Warren, testing out
WWW.WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
WCS student tours electric airplane company founded by WCS alumnus
‘This is my dream come true.’
Beta founder and CEO Kyle Clark explains the controls of the Alia to Jonah Wayman at Beta Technologies’ headquarters at Burlington International Airport on Wednesday morning. COURTESY PHOTOS BY BRIAN JENKINS OF BETA TECHNOLOGIES
outreach efforts were hampered over the past year by the pandemic. Wayman’s visit marks the start of a renewed effort to “inspire the next generation of aviators,” Katie said. She predicts that thousands of pilots and mechanics are going to be needed to work on electric aircraft in the future. “We’re very excited about what we are doing here and really excited to share what we have going on with kids, students and the community,” she said. “It’s been a long time coming for us. If we can make an impact on a student who is passionate about aviation and share what we’ve learned and create a meaningful experience for him, that is super meaningful to us … We’re thrilled to have Jonah here and to show him around.” The company’s aircraft, the Alia, is being developed as a manned delivery plane with investments from Amazon, UPS and United Therapeutics. The plane can take off and land vertically, reach
A Beta Technologies helicopter takes off with WCS sixth-grader Jonah Wayman in the passenger’s seat.
speeds of 170 mph with a 250-mile range and carry over a ton of cargo, according to an April report in VTDigger. It is charged with ground chargers that the company manufactures on Avenue D. The plane seats six. Passenger electric planes are in the company’s future plans, as are unmanned delivery planes. “Our first roll out will be in delivery, but we are designing our aircraft to eventually move people as well,” Katie said. Beta was founded in 2017 with eight employees. The company’s new facility at the airport will help it more than double from its current 200 employees.
“In the next few years, we’re going to have to be rolling out an aircraft a day to meet our goals and keep our promises,” Katie said. The investments from UPS and Amazon are significant milestones for the company. “It is a pretty big deal,” Katie said. “It shows a vote of confidence that we’re the real deal and that they have faith that we are a leader in this industry and we are going to be able to bring this product to market and make an impact on the environment. It’s validating to have companies like UPS and Amazon and United Therapeutics behind us and show that they believe in what we’re doing.”