Photo: USAF/Samuel King Jr.
At the beginning of April, we heard news about the aviators over at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida having received a new toy for testing purposes. It’s called Hexa, and it’s a one-person transporter that, if it passes USAF’s rigours, could bring the military branch into the era of the electric, vertical takeoff and landing machines.
Described by some as a flying car and by others simply as a pod, the Hexa was introduced in 2018 as a “single-passenger wingless multicopter.” The main goal of the company behind it, LIFT, was to have it serve tourism and short-distance travel needs, but it caught the eye of the military pretty quick.
A year ago, people from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona loaded a Hexa inside a C-130J Super Hercules and shipped over to Texas, in what the USAF called at the time the first-ever moving of an “electronic vertical takeoff and landing aircraft using a military aircraft.”
From there, the Hexa grew on America’s aviators, and this month entered testing procedures at Eglin. Photos released last week by the USAF show the aircraft as it was remotely piloted at the base during testing procedures conducted at the beginning of the month.
According to the USAF, the pics were snapped during the aircraft’s first test flight in the hands of the military there, which lasted for about 10 minutes. During the flight, the Hexa reached an altitude of 50 feet (15 meters).
Shaped like some alien critter, with four legs on all corners, a rather high pod in the middle, and no less than 18 rotors with propellors up top, the Hexa can be controlled by means of a 3-axis joystick, or it can fly itself, if that makes one feel more comfortable.
The USAF is eyeing the use of the Hexa for emergency first response, personnel transport, base logistics, and search and rescue missions, provided the thing lives up to the branch’s expectations. Testing at Eglin (and possibly elsewhere) will continue, with LIFT having been awarded a Phase 3 contract to allow for this. The Air Force is presently eyeing envelope expansion, acoustics testing, and testing of a modular cargo adaptation for the airframe.
A year ago, people from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona loaded a Hexa inside a C-130J Super Hercules and shipped over to Texas, in what the USAF called at the time the first-ever moving of an “electronic vertical takeoff and landing aircraft using a military aircraft.”
From there, the Hexa grew on America’s aviators, and this month entered testing procedures at Eglin. Photos released last week by the USAF show the aircraft as it was remotely piloted at the base during testing procedures conducted at the beginning of the month.
According to the USAF, the pics were snapped during the aircraft’s first test flight in the hands of the military there, which lasted for about 10 minutes. During the flight, the Hexa reached an altitude of 50 feet (15 meters).
Shaped like some alien critter, with four legs on all corners, a rather high pod in the middle, and no less than 18 rotors with propellors up top, the Hexa can be controlled by means of a 3-axis joystick, or it can fly itself, if that makes one feel more comfortable.
The USAF is eyeing the use of the Hexa for emergency first response, personnel transport, base logistics, and search and rescue missions, provided the thing lives up to the branch’s expectations. Testing at Eglin (and possibly elsewhere) will continue, with LIFT having been awarded a Phase 3 contract to allow for this. The Air Force is presently eyeing envelope expansion, acoustics testing, and testing of a modular cargo adaptation for the airframe.
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