Heart Aerospace flies the largest electric aircraft ever
On September 1, 2026, Y Combinator published a video titled "The World's Largest Electric Aircraft Just Flew" as part of its "Hard Tech" series. It shows Heart Aerospace, a Y Combinator W19 batch company, flying what the video's own description calls the largest electric airplane ever flown. The aircraft has a 100-foot wingspan and a takeoff weight of 25,000 pounds; the video says it took just $5 of electricity to get it off the ground.
In the video, YC's Gustaf Alströmer visits Heart Aerospace's pilot plant in Los Angeles and interviews co-founder and CEO Anders Forslund. Forslund discusses how the company went from a 3D-printed model to the full-scale electric aircraft in seven years. The interview is also billed as covering why "the jet engine has left short flights behind" and what cheap electric flight could unlock for the future of regional air travel, though the video's description does not explain either point further.
The material available does not give a date, location, altitude, speed or duration for the flight itself, and it does not say whether this was Heart Aerospace's first flight of the aircraft or one of several test flights; the only location named is the Los Angeles pilot plant where the interview took place. It also names no rival aircraft or specific benchmark behind the "largest electric airplane ever flown" claim, so that superlative rests on Heart Aerospace's and YC's own account. Within its first few days online, the video had already passed 2.3 million views and drawn more than 21,000 likes.
Key facts
- Heart Aerospace, a Y Combinator W19 company, flew what a new YC video calls the largest electric airplane ever flown.
- The aircraft has a 100-foot wingspan and a takeoff weight of 25,000 pounds; the video says getting it off the ground took just $5 of electricity.
- Co-founder and CEO Anders Forslund tells YC's Gustaf Alströmer the company went from a 3D-printed model to the full-scale aircraft in seven years.
- The interview took place at Heart Aerospace's pilot plant in Los Angeles; the video gives no date, altitude, speed or duration for the flight itself.
- Published September 1, 2026 as part of YC's "Hard Tech" series, the video passed 2.3 million views and drew more than 21,000 likes within its first few days online.
Why it matters
The flight is presented, in a new Y Combinator video, as evidence that electric aircraft can scale up past small demonstrator planes. The aircraft has a 100-foot wingspan and a 25,000-pound takeoff weight, and the video says getting it off the ground took just $5 of electricity. YC frames the milestone around the seven years it took Heart Aerospace, one of its W19 batch companies, to go from a 3D-printed model to that full-scale aircraft. The interview with co-founder and CEO Anders Forslund also covers why "the jet engine has left short flights behind" and what cheap electric flight could unlock for regional air travel. Neither point is explained further in the video's own description.
Who it affects
Heart Aerospace, the aircraft's maker, is the immediate subject: this is a progress update on a hard-tech company Y Combinator backed in its W19 batch. The video is also aimed at YC's own audience: it is part of YC's "Hard Tech" series, presented by YC's Gustaf Alströmer, and it closes with links to apply to Y Combinator and to work at a YC startup, so it doubles as recruiting and marketing for YC's portfolio alongside reporting on the aircraft's progress. More broadly, the interview directs its closing questions, about what cheap electric flight could unlock, at anyone following regional air travel and electric aviation.
How to use it
There is nothing to buy or sign up for here: the material is a roughly 15-minute video published to Y Combinator's YouTube channel on September 1, 2026, as part of its "Hard Tech" series. It follows YC's Gustaf Alströmer through Heart Aerospace's pilot plant in Los Angeles and into an interview with co-founder and CEO Anders Forslund. The video description links to Heart Aerospace's own website, heartaerospace.com, for more on the company, alongside YC's pages for applying to Y Combinator and for finding a job at a YC startup.
How solid is it
That "largest electric airplane ever flown" claim comes from Y Combinator and Heart Aerospace themselves. The video names no rival aircraft and no specific benchmark it is being measured against. It also gives no date, location, altitude, speed or duration for the flight itself, only the video's September 1, 2026 publish date and the fact that the interview took place at the Los Angeles pilot plant, and it does not say whether this was Heart Aerospace's first flight of the aircraft or one of several test flights. The size and cost figures, the 100-foot wingspan, the 25,000-pound takeoff weight, the $5 of electricity, all rest on the company's and YC's account rather than on an independently documented flight.
Risks and caveats
Only the electricity spent getting the aircraft off the ground is covered by the $5 figure, not necessarily a complete flight, so it is not directly comparable to a full trip's fuel cost. The claim that "the jet engine has left short flights behind" is presented as the interview's framing rather than explained or supported with evidence in the material available here. What cheap electric flight "could unlock" for regional air travel is left an open question too: the video's own description uses the word "could," not a firmer claim, and gives no specifics on what that would actually look like.