Apple invited paraplegic Claire Lomas to fly a plane while being filmed for an Apple Vision Pro immersive video, but she then suffered fatal injuries in an accident upon landing.
In 2024, Apple was making one of the first of its "Adventure" immersive videos for the then-new Apple Vision Pro, featuring spectacular feats such as Parkour running in Paris. According to Bloomberg, Lomas was being filmed flying a converted microlight over the Jordan desert when she crashed after landing.
BBC News reported back in 2025 that Lomas had been invited to film there by an unnamed documentary maker, now revealed to be Apple and London's Atlantic Studios. Lomas had flown this type of microlight before, but the BBC says it went off a road after landing and crashed into a rock.
That was on July 15, 2024, and Lomas died from her injuries five weeks later. A hearing was due to be held in a UK coroner's court in April 2026, but has now been delayed.
Reportedly, cameras were mounted on the microlight, and one was also filming Lomas. She was familiar with the type of aircraft, and no one appears to be claiming that the weight of the cameras was a factor in the crash.
There are reports of other concerns regarding safety during filming, specifically of the crew being required to work allegedly unsafe hours. Sources involved with the production, though not necessarily having worked on the filming, said that the crew had limited training for the environments they were working in.
Apple is said to have responded to these complaints by periodically assigning a health and safety officer to the production. No other injuries have been reported.
While Apple and Atlantic Studios have immersive video of the crash, it is of course unlikely that any footage at all will ever be screened. However, it may presumably be included in the hearings.
Apple has not commented. Its production partner Atlantic Studios has said only that "due to the ongoing inquest, it would not be appropriate for us to comment at this time."
Lomas was 44 when she died. In 2007, she was paralysed following a horse-riding accident, yet in 2012 she ran the London Marathon in a robotic suit to raise money for charity.
Apple's "Adventure" immersive videos for Apple Vision Pro are films that tend to run for around 12 to 15 minutes. As well as the Parisian Parkour, the series has included footage of record-breaking divers in the Arctic.
