Pivotal, Larry Page-backed eVTOL maker, loses CEO Ken Karklin

Ken Karklin is no longer CEO of Pivotal, the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft company backed by Google co-founder Larry Page. The company announced this week that Karklin, who had held the role for more than four years, has left to "pursue new endeavors," with no further details provided about the leadership change.

Karklin said in a statement that leading Pivotal had been the privilege of his career and that the team had proved light eVTOL in practice. He added that the industry has moved beyond prototypes and press releases and now operates under real-world constraints, and expressed confidence that the foundation built at Pivotal will help the sector move forward.

Taking over on an interim basis is Mike Ross, an aviation executive who joined Pivotal's board in November 2025. Ross said Karklin's leadership over four years was instrumental in getting the company to where it is today, and that the team, priorities and roadmap remain unchanged during the transition. Ross also said he looks forward to guiding the company as it brings its fourth-generation Helix aircraft to market.

The leadership change comes two years after Pivotal began selling Helix, its first lightweight electric personal aircraft. The single-seat aircraft can be flown without a pilot's license and has a starting price of around $200,000.

Pivotal has also spent several years developing BlackFly, an aircraft aimed at defense and first responders. Last month, BlackFly was used for the first time to respond to an emergency in North Carolina; the company says it arrived 20 minutes faster than an ambulance responding in parallel. Pivotal reports that BlackFly has logged more than 10,000 flights.

Pivotal is among several companies chosen for the Federal Aviation Administration's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, which was created to expand testing of such aircraft across the country.