Gender

Male

Location

Atlanta, GA

About Me:

Born and raised in Atlanta, always interested in aviation, my dad and grandfather flew, I flew with my dad as a kid. Started flying RC’s around 10yo. Always a history and aviation buff. I was also raised on classic rock, and have a freakish photographic memory when it comes to music trivia. I also began playing guitar around the same age, and have played in bands or been involved in music in one form or another for most of my life. In 2001 the world changed, and we were back in conflict with the Middle East, first to settle up with Saddam, then we declared war on not a country but an ideal, an ideal which didn’t wear a uniform, engage in articles of war, nor followed the Geneva Convention, because it wasn’t even a nation, it was a war on on “terrorism”. Just of age I joined, to be an occupation force or a bullet sponge I opted out, that’s for Army and Marines, no I joined the Navy. And it wasn’t to swab a deck on a ship. I was after a position in the most elite Special Operations aviation support role period. Naval Combat Search and Rescue, (CSAR). To get there I had to get through naval basic 800 divion(special programs boot camp) attend and complete an aviation maintenance rating, mine was avionics, completed Naval Aircrew Crew Candidate School, Naval Rescue Swimmer School, S.E.R.E. School, fleet replenishment training, and finally I graduated and was pinned with my wings after almost two years. Now I was just beginning, spent my first tour with helicopter Combat squad HC-4., providing insertion and extraction, night ops on night vision, combat support and aerial gunnery suppression, and always a flight engineer and maintainer, though I specialized in navigation, sensors, comms, and radar. Being a flight engineer let me cycle through departments. Learning power plants, hydraulics, air frames and fabrication, chase wires, and ultimately balance jet engines and the rotor system, signing machines good for flight. My second tour was with a mine hunting and sweeping squadron, which was quite a change, it involved reeling out and towing 7 different arrays of equipment from the helicopter while in flight, in order to cut, detonate, neutralize, locate, identify sea mines in order to keep the Persian gulf shipping lanes open. Fortunately half of Iranian mi es were still in their crates or were 60 years old. While there I became a qns instructor, a side scan sonar with a laser line array to find and ID mines, I developed a fascination for sensory equipment, and what it allowed me to do, I also was also involved operating systems in sea trials which utilized uuas, underwater drone, sonar, and a lot of C4. During my time in I became an expert as well in LiDAR, FLIR, NVD’s, TOF imaging, radalt, as well as compass, gps and magnometer. I then got out after my second tour, missing music and humbled by my brief attempt to be a studio guitarist, I pivoted to audio engineering, I got to learn technology and signal flow, and I worked around music all day, I also minored in Electrical Engineering, and I also audited pro audio repair, just so I could solder and make clones of equipment for fun. I stayed for my MBA, until I couldn’t stretch out the GI Bill anymore. Though I always thought I wanted to work in a recording studio, I quickly found out it was not for me, and yes I mean after the hazing period. I found I’d drive myself insane, mixing and remixing, and repetitive motions in a dark anechoic room starts to resemble psychosis. I then worked at Disneys tracking studio recording orchestras which got me out of the little dark room. Asked as a favor, I started recording outdoor symphonic concerts, which I found I really enjoyed the challenge live mixing provided. I then took over two stages, and mixed every genres, some days for 8hrs straight and no sound checks. I got good fast. Over the next few years I mixed several well known artists, some big names. Took a corporate gig, also side hustled with drones. Life. Bad. Good. Out of characters.end

Please tell us a bit about your UAV interest

I fly everything. Except helicopters, I had 1200 flight hours in rotary wing A/C so playing with a miniature one never appealed to me. I fly quadcopters, but purely as an inspection or cinematic tool. It’s never been what I considered flying, more or less it’s beating gravity into submission. I fly a lot of scale model. Although after a lifetime flying war birds, I’ve begun purging them and don’t enjoy the scale pattern flying anymore. It was a historical interest, but I’ve flown and sold every plane I wanted to build and fly. Now at the RC club it’s mostly scale acro, 3D aerobatics. Pylon racers and Edf jets, I do a good bit of lake flying because that’s where I lived, and my son still does. I’m mostly into building either long range or top speed fpv wings. My goal is to long range over 20 miles and back, and speed is build a 200mph+ abomination of a wing. I’m close to both though I’ve found the cost and effort have increased exponentially as O inch closer. Lastly my UAV insterest lie in structural inspection with my thermal cam and multi spectral drone, and when I eventually finish my vtol, large rural survey and mapping, and wild game census.

Hometown:

Atlanta