Drone Legends Industry Advisory Board
Richard Fields
Deputy Chief, LAFD UAS Program Coordinator at Los Angeles City Fire Department.
Deputy Chief Fields established the drone/UAV programme in the LAFD in 2015-2017 and has led the way in the use of drones throughout the past 7 years. HIs innovations and training have been a model for all fire departments to follow. In this interview, Richard shares some use-cases and specific ways that drones save lives, enhance communication and provide more detail information to make decisions faster and more effectively.
Sagar Thaker
JCMATTHEW NZ LTD. Industry areas of Agriculture, Military, Sporting, Emergency Response, GIS – mapping, Retail, Product Distribution – Flight safety awareness and usefulness of UAV technology in today’s world
Petra Leary
petraleary.com. Industry areas of Sporting, Photography – Art – full-time drone photographer for the past 5 years.
Sacha Wetzel
AVFOIL. Industry areas of Agriculture, Military, Security – I like things that fly and I also like flexible ways to see different views, drones offer this to aviation which I have been a part of for near 30 years.
Jeff Maunder
Fire and Emergency New Zealand. Jeff is the National Capability Manager and Chief Remote Pilot for Fire and Emergency New Zealand. Jeff’s scope of operations is very broad and covers basic mapping, 3D imagery, Thermal mapping and Hotspot analysis, damage assessments for structural collapse, flood damage assessment and adverse weather response.
Wayne Bailey
Chief Drone Pilot, Blue Ridge Mountain Drones (Florida). Wayne has been flying since 2016 and gained the FAA certificate in 2018. In the last three years, Blue Ridge Mountain Drones has trained over 600 students to be a FAA part 107 pilot
Callum Scully
Cratos NZ. Callum is an ex New Zealand Infantry Section Commander and UAS operator/trainer. Now working with Cratos Ltd & Criterion Solutions to supply our customers with world leading technology in the UAS space.
Guidel Olivas
U.S. Department of Defense. Agriculture, Military, Sporting, Emergency Response, GIS - mapping, Retail, Counter Unmanned Semi-Autonomous & Autonomous Systems. UTM & ATM will bring the "Jetsons " cartoons to real life.
Tamiko Sianen
Tamiko has had a personal passion for drones, using them for photography in university, and professionally entered the drone industry over 4 years ago, working at a startup in Silicon Valley focused on collision avoidance technology for drones. Tamiko now works for a larger public company that helps build drone programs for law enforcement and public safety teams across the US. She loves to share her experiences with new potential users and students.
Fred Carlson
Lieutenant at New York City Fire Department, Fire Department New York. Emergency Response - more information is here, FDNY Robotics. Connect with Fred on Linkedin.
Charles Werner
Director of the leading & largest nonprofit program DRONERESPONDERS to advance public safety UAS through the largest online Resource Center, largest public safety drone directory/Dashboard, webinars and podcasts. Participation from 77 countries and 400+ international members.
Jason Taylor
Director of UAS Programs, Sentinel Robotic Solutions. Jason has been operating sUAS (Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems) for over 25 years. Beginning my Model Aviation adventures at the age of 13, my passion to fly and teach others has driven me to my current career as Director of UAS Programs for Sentinel Robotic Solutions.
Eric Wiseman
Fire Code Official, Eric is a 25-year career Fire Service professional with core skill concentrations in Fire Prevention, Code Enforcement and Inspections in the Central and Western North Carolina regions. Community service and utilizing local resources is Eric's focus.
Keith Mottas
CEO of Atlantic Drone Pros, Utilization of Artificial intelligence and machine learning by UAS. With over 35+ years as an aviation professional, I've accumulated over 3200 PIC hours in single and multi-engine manned aircraft, 750 PIC of the MQ-9 in combat missions, and over 200 in UASs/UAVs.
John Santorio
Colonie Police Department, John began in the Drone industry in 2017 when he developed the program for my police department. The development included developing training programs, policy and procedures, equipment selection, and FAA Certificate of Authorization approval. John began assisting and working for the Department of Homeland Security in developing basic and advanced operator courses that were taught to the entire State of New York and was designed for public safety professionals.
Douglas Spotted Eagle
Douglas is the Director of Education/Training Programming for Sundance Media Group for over 28 years. He has been involved in aviation for most of his adult life; he has been training UAS pilots since 2008, and have authored several books on the topic. Some of his lessons are found on the FAA website.
Jeff Pricher
I started flying in 2012 and enjoyed learning with every flight. Being a bit of a techie, I was curious to integrate UAS into public safety, specifically emergency services. In 2015 my Chief allowed me to pursue a program for our agency and it was at that point I learned that I didn’t really know what I was doing. It was clear that instead of something “cool” flying in the National Air Space was something that required more knowledge. I was passionate to learn from traditional pilots and how traditional aviation really crossed over to UAS. In 2017 I had an opportunity to be a part of sub- committee at the federal level that covers UAS operations on large wildfires. Over the next 2 years I learned about how to fly with traditional aviators and share the same airspace and what really was required to pilot these little machines. In 2019 I was given the opportunity to develop a first of its kind public safety aviation program specific to UAS. This was in conjunction with the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization that covers 5 counties in 2 different states. My goal and passion now is to share the need for aeronautical professionalism For UAS operators in public safety. It is too easy for folks to fly and no standards that are endorsed nationally. Hopefully our program can help with that.
David Cameron
David is a UAS Public Safety Director and Instructor at 21 CLETS UAS. He is also a Res. Officer/UAS Program Manager for the City of Campbell Police. As a first responder and UAS Program manager I see drone use expanding in many industries and believe the introduction of the drone industry to youth is a key factor in creating future innovators.
Karina Passi
I've demonstrated a number of UAS in a variety of fields including medical, agriculture, 3D mapping, various towers. I'm most proficient in UAS maintenance. I've served in the U.S. Air Force for almost 10 years as an avionics technician and maintenance is my thing.
David Danielson
David is a retired US Navy Helicopter Crewchief, where he was trained in flight safety programs. During David's time with the Los Angeles Fire Department, he developed the LAFD UAS Program, facilitating the National Institute of Standards and Technology Aerial Test Methods to demonstrate, evaluate, and validate public safety Drone programs. David is currently serving as an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist through John Hopkins University supporting further development of NIST standardization in Air, Ground, and Aquatic Robotics.
