Beta Technologies wrapped up a five-day flight demonstration campaign in Utah on October 7, using its Alia CX300 electric airplane to show how electric aircraft could deliver radiopharmaceuticals and other time-sensitive medical cargo across the state. The Vermont-based aircraft manufacturer conducted the flights with cargo airline Alpine Air Express of Provo, Utah, as part of the uFLY project under the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP).
Many radiopharmaceuticals contain radioactive isotopes that decay within hours, which limits how far they can travel from where they are produced. As an example, Beta pointed to fluorodeoxyglucose, a tracer substance widely used in cancer imaging, which loses half its radioactivity in about 110 minutes. Alpine Air currently carries such shipments over longer distances in conventional aircraft, and the two companies are evaluating whether electric airplanes could supplement those operations and reach additional communities.
In this article
More In Operations
