Accidents
Hexa eVTOL Aircraft Suffers Rotor Failure at Osaka World Expo
Single-seat multicopter landed safely after the incident
Lift chief pilot Jace McCown flies the Hexa electric multicopter VTOL aircraft in a demonstration flight at the 2025 World Expo event in Osaka, Japan.
Lift chief pilot Jace McCown flies the Hexa electric multicopter VTOL aircraft in a demonstration flight at the 2025 World Expo event in Osaka, Japan, on April 14. © Lift Aircraft

Public demonstration flights of Lift Aircraft's Hexa eVTOL vehicle at the Osaka-Kansai World Expo in Japan have been temporarily suspended following an April 26 incident in which the single-seat model suffered an apparent mechanical failure.

The piloted multicopter was flying at an altitude of 10 meters on approach to the Expo Vertiport at approximately 3 p.m. local time when one of its 18 propellers broke, damaging the structure that connects it to the aircraft’s fuselage, according to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network.