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On July 21,  (Piqua, Ohio, U.S.) announced that it has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 35 type certification for its first composite propeller designed specifically for advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft. The company worked with aerospace company (South Burlington, Vt., U.S.) to achieve this landmark, conducting all testing of its propeller on Beta’s electric propulsion systems (electric engines), which are designed and manufactured in-house by Beta.

Hartzell says this milestone signifies the maturity, certifiability and commercialization of the AAM industry, and next-generation electric aviation. It is also a practical step forward in the industry’s collective ability to support the growing demand for safe, low-cost, and efficient urban and regional air transport.

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With this certification, Hartzell’s propeller is the first to earn FAA type certification specifically for integration with electric propulsion systems. These systems, like Beta’s, are capable of managing a wide range of different loads and conditions — from regenerative braking to startup — all of which Hartzell’s propellers are designed to support. The approval comes after thousands of hours of ground and flight testing over 4 years, and verifies that the propeller exceeds the rigorous performance and safety standards of FAA Part 35.

Hartzell’s design is a five bladed, carbon fiber, ground-adjustable fixed-pitch propeller. Both companies have worked on the propeller development since 2021, from initial aerodynamic modeling and design to full-scale testing and validation. The result is a high-performance, low-noise propeller tailored specifically for electric engines. Beta will use Hartzell’s propeller to optimize the performance and safety profile of both its Alia VTOL and Alia CTOL aircraft. The propeller is also built to serve all AAM aircraft that use similar electric propulsion systems.

“With its decades of experience across all types of aircraft, Hartzell Propeller has understood from the beginning the unique challenges and opportunities of electric aviation,” says Kyle Clark, Founder and CEO of Beta Technologies. “Their engineering precision and deep certification experience have assisted us as we bring this aircraft to market and walk through our own certification steps. We look forward to getting this certified propeller in the air as we continue the process of certifying our electric engines, as well as our Alia CTOL and VTOL.”

Beta has been flying its Alia CTOL and VTOL aircraft with Hartzell’s propellers for more than 4 years — including completion of a crewed transition of an eVTOL, and several long-range flights with its fixed-wing, including a coast-to-coast trip across the U.S., and now a grand tour of Europe.