The Alia aircraft
You can't
not see the planes. Beta Technologies' two prized prototypes take up the center of its bustling headquarters inside a hangar at Burlington International Airport. Around the upper rim of the airy space, employee workstations overlook the lustrous white machines through long walls of glass. During a recent tour, a group of engineers studied aircraft designs on a projection screen in one conference room. Next door, two others played Ping-Pong.
The open office layout isn't to imitate Silicon Valley, or even to show off Beta's aircraft, founder and CEO Kyle Clark insisted. He thinks the glass helps get engineers talking to each other, which leads to a better plane. And Clark is obsessed with building a better plane.