7 Of The Most Influential Players In The Drone Industry

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Drone Life magazine has named me one of the “7 Most Influential Players In The Drone Industry”  This is a fun honor, especially given the great names on the list.  There are many others who could just as easily have been on this list, but I nevertheless appreciate being named.

Here is an excerpt from the piece:

The Drone Revolution is upon us. Every day there is a new headline. Every day someone starts a new company. People are flocking to this industry and it is creating a snowball effect of popularity and investments. But as with any rise in technology, there are certain ‘powers that be’ making the whole thing happen. Dronelife spoke to these players to help you put faces to names and get their take on the rise of the drone:

Greg McNeal is an associate professor of law at Pepperdine University and a contributor to Forbes who writes about the ever-evolving status of drone laws and regulations. Most recently, McNeal was the first to discover the inadvertently published FAA documents analyzing the economic impacts of the administration’s proposed drone regulations. This discovery and subsequent media frenzy forced the FAA to officially publish the long awaited Notice for Proposed Rulemaking.

What excites you most about the future of the drone industry?

“The rapid pace of innovation means that we will certainly be surprised by the amazing things that people will do with unmanned aircraft in the future. While the things people are doing now are impressive, in less than 10 years smart autonomy will be common technology . Drones will be true flying robots (rather than remotely piloted aircraft), and so many of the other seemingly impressive things we are doing now will be mundane, and perhaps quaint vestiges of the past.”

What is one piece of advice you would give to first time pilots?

“If you think the thing you’re about to do is impressive because it might be illegal, it’s not impressive.”