Pushing aviation science & technology is my passion. I've been fortunate to learn from, work with, and lead some very smart engineering teams.Since picking up RC airplanes as a hobby at 12, I've beaten multiple world records for endurance and had my hand directly in several world's-first technology demonstrations:* 8-days on one tank of Jet-A?* 48 hours endurance on hydrogen?* 5hr (and 100km) without a motor? * 81hr on hydrogen and solar and autonomous soaring?* Rocket-launching a helicopter?* Flying Submarines?* Co-molding solar photovoltaic arrays?* CD-sized micro-UAVs?* Flying in the Arctic?Yes to all of these, and more.I joined Platform Aerospace as CTO in 2019 to help transition the Vanilla UAV across the valley of death. In this time, I've led Vanilla's engineering and test-flight teams through significant envelope expansions, many technology upgrades, and manufacturing improvements for enabling full-rate production. We successfully completed multiple high-profile demonstrations & missions, and delivered unit sales and international exports, Vanilla is on a healthy path as the world-leader for long-endurance at tactical altitudes.With Vanilla's production ready for "rinse & repeat," it's nearing time to get back into applied S&T.