GEOFF BENNETT: Electric aviation, or e-aviation, is still in its infancy infancy, but a growing number of companies are developing plans to bring electric aircraft into wider use.

And unlike its approach to other forms of electric transportation, the Trump administration has so far embraced the industry's expansion.

Our aviation correspondent, Miles O'Brien, became the first journalist to pilot one of these aircraft and reports on the promise and the challenges of this emerging technology.

MILES O'BRIEN: It wasn't very graceful, but that's me stepping into the future of aviation, a more sustainable future.

KYLE CLARK, Founder and CEO, BETA Technologies: As we get rolling on the runway, stay on the center line.

MILES O'BRIEN: The pilot in command is Kyle Clark, founder and CEO of BETA Technologies, a start-up focused on developing electric aircraft.

KYLE CLARK: Give it to me.

I will go off the center line, come back.

Just feel it out, because, when you land you're going to want to have that muscle memory.

MILES O'BRIEN: We taxied toward the runway, held short, and then it was suddenly silent.

It's just weird how quiet it is.

KYLE CLARK: I know.

MILES O'BRIEN: When the motor is all electric, it only turns when you need it.

KYLE CLARK: Three, two, one gentle back.

There we go.

And just feel that... MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.

KYLE CLARK: Perfect.

And fly like you have got a glass of wine in your hand there, kind of.

MILES O'BRIEN: As we flew over Vermont's Green Mountains, Kyle gave me an update on the company he founded nine years ago here in his hometown, Burlington.

They are designing and building planes, batteries, and motors, marching through an FAA certification process that isn't plugged in to this kind of transformation.

What takes up most of your time?

KYLE CLARK: Regulatory.

It's the interpretation of the rules that were written for turbine aircraft applied to electric aircraft.

MILES O'BRIEN: Right.

KYLE CLARK: It's not an easy task to write a rule that's applicable.

MILES O'BRIEN: While the Trump administration has pulled back federal support for electric cars, it appears to be charged up about electric aviation.

In May of 2026, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy flew with Kyle Clark in the plane we were in.

He also got some time in the electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, version, and then gushed about it on social media.

SEAN DUFFY, U.S.

Transportation Secretary: People and products are going to move more efficiently, more cost-effectively.

KYLE CLARK: We burned $3.

SEAN DUFFY: Three fricking dollars on that flight.

KYLE CLARK: Yes.

SEAN DUFFY: This is not "The Jetsons."

This is actual real life.

MILES O'BRIEN: There is some real-life testing under way.

In June of 2025, the White House launched a program to accelerate the deployment of eVTOL operations in the United States.

The FAA has carved out some airspace for eight projects spanning 26 states.

Beta is among at least eight companies that will test-fly still uncertified electric and hybrid aircraft in demonstration missions, ranging from cargo delivery to passenger service, a three-year pilot program in more ways than one.

CHRIS ROCHELEAU, Former Deputy FAA Administrator: What we want to be able to do is make sure they're able to actively operate in the national airspace system.

That's something that we hadn't done before.

MILES O'BRIEN: Chris Rocheleau was the FAA deputy administrator when we spoke with him.

When do you think there will be electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxis flying in the United States with paying passengers?

CHRIS ROCHELEAU: I think we are right around the corner from certifying an aircraft.

We certainly have made it clear and the secretary of transportation and the administrator of the FAA has made it clear we will be operating commercially by L.A.

'28, by the Olympics.

MILES O'BRIEN: San Jose-based Archer Aviation is the official air taxi provider for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The company plans to carry as many as four paying passengers at a time on 10-to-20-minute flights across greater Los Angeles.

It will be an important P.R.

milestone.

But the Jetsonian vision of skies filled with air taxis has yet to arrive.

KYLE CLARK: I think we should go over to the battery line.

MILES O'BRIEN: Kyle Clark gave me a factory tour with a special focus on the bottleneck to practical, affordable electric flight, the batteries.

The plane we flew has 13,000 lithium-ion cells bundled into 55 modules, five times the energy of a Tesla Model 3.

But Clark says they exceed automotive and even FAA safety standards.

KYLE CLARK: We use advanced materials like carbon and titanium, aluminum.

Of course, it costs a little more to do it like this, but we also have twice the number of battery management systems in here and a whole lot more quality control coming in.

MILES O'BRIEN: BETA engineers are running batteries through accelerated life cycles to see how they perform over time.

They deliberately drop them, overheat them, and otherwise push them to failure, working toward a design that ensures even the worst-case scenario does not become catastrophic.

COO Sean Donovan earned his battery chops at Tesla.

SEAN DONOVAN, COO, BETA Technologies: E.V.s on the ground have pushed battery technology really far that have really enabled electric aviation.

MILES O'BRIEN: But batteries designed for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft must meet a challenge nothing in your garage will ever face.

They need to deliver very high power at the beginning and the end of their discharge time.

VENKAT VISWANATHAN, University of Michigan: That has -- it turned out to be the Achilles' heel for this industry.

MILES O'BRIEN: Venkat Viswanathan is a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan.

VENKAT VISWANATHAN: Batteries now have to deliver both energy and power.

This historically is very difficult for a battery.

MILES O'BRIEN: And the rules add to the difficulty.

The FAA requires an aircraft to have enough range to reach the destination, divert to an alternate, and fly another 45 minutes.

So, at the bottom of the ledger, what range can today's batteries truly deliver?

VENKAT VISWANATHAN: About five passengers, about 150 nautical miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Is that a business?

VENKAT VISWANATHAN: I think there are certain use cases where that is certainly a business.

I think that it is still a challenge to be able to make this use case as an urban air taxi use case, right, which is what is imagined as the grand opportunity for these eVTOLs.

MILES O'BRIEN: Kyle Clark says BETA has built its business plan around both the current limitations and the expected progress of battery technology.

That's why the company is initially focusing on the fixed-wing aircraft we flew, first for cargo missions and later for passengers, while aggressively installing charging stations at airports nationwide.

Investors initially embraced the strategy.

BETA's November 2025 IPO raised about a billion dollars and valued the company at 7.4 billion.

But its shares have since fallen roughly 40 percent as the difficult road to certification continues.

So what's the big vision then?

KYLE CLARK: Built a bigger airplane and a bigger airplane or bigger plane, get up to 70, 150 passengers of an electric airplane.

And it's a two-decade vision.

But the path of batteries, the path of electric motors, material science says it's possible.

We're going to do it.

MILES O'BRIEN: The fixed-wing version of the ALIA has one electric motor.

Coupled with the fly-by-wire control, it was extremely responsive to my inputs.

The eVTOL ALIA has four additional motors to handle vertical flight.

No need to tilt propellers.

It's all part of an effort to reduce complexity and weight.

It's simple to fly.

But what goes up must come down.

KYLE CLARK: Nose down just a little bit.

OK, I have got the controls with you.

KYLE CLARK: OK, we're going to -- oh, I got the controls.

KYLE CLARK: Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Not my finest performance.

Apparently, my muscle memory is fading.

And I dropped the wine glass.

As we taxied to the charging station and plugged in, I found myself wishing I could try again.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Miles O'Brien in Burlington, Vermont.