The Vertical Space

Welcome to our conversation with Svilen Rangelov, Co-Founder and CEO of Dronamics, a business with the goal to change how the world moves goods. We start with a discussion around the broader drone/UAS market and then the cargo drone delivery market – including use-cases and early demand, challenges and opportunities, and the overall landscape.  Then we talk about Dronamics, the problems they’re so...

Today’s topic is the exciting world of pilot training innovation, an area that has become a high priority to militaries and airlines around the world given the pilot shortage that the industry is grappling with.  Helping us examine this topic is Ryan Riley, a retired USAF F-16 fighter pilot who most recently led Pilot Training Next, an initiative that leveraged advanced training technologies and l...

How often do you get to have a conversation with Bob Pearce, the Associate Administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate? Well, you do today – and you’ll really enjoy the talk.  Bob discusses how NASA synthesizes a picture of the future, in collaboration with thought leaders, and helps to remove the challenges to make that future happen.  We take a dive into sustainability, the...

Our guest today is Charlton Evans, founder and CEO of End State Solutions, a firm focused on certification and airworthiness for drones and other forms of advanced air mobility.  Given some of the recent milestones and rumors about drone regulations in the United States, we thought you would appreciate a discussion on the hot topics in FAA drone regulations from a true subject matter expert, whose...

Enjoy this important discussion with Admiral Mike Rogers. Admiral Rogers served 37 years in the United States Navy, rising to the rank of four star Admiral and served as Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency.   We open our conversation with a geostrategic perspective of the world. Mike  discusses what the next conflict may look like, how we can prepare for that confl...

The conversation that follows is with Justin Steinke, Senior Vice President of Commercial Business at Spright. As a senior executive of one of the more sophisticated drone operators in the market, Justin knows the drone industry inside and out. He is just as comfortable discussing macro industry trends as he is getting into the weeds of enabling technologies. Needless to say, we did both.  We star...

Today’s conversation is with Geoff Bower, Chief Engineer at Archer Aviation, a developer of electric vertical take off and landing – or eVTOL – aircraft. Geoff is one of the most renowned engineers in the eVTOL arena, and we sat down for an in-depth discussion on developing and commercializing eVTOL aircraft.  We start the conversation with a high level description of a day in the life of a chief...

Today’s discussion is with Mykel Kochenderfer, Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He is the director of the Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory (SISL), conducting research on advanced algorithms and analytical methods for the design of robust decision making systems. When one of our previous guests recommended we speak with Mykel, he said that Mykel led...

If you want to learn about the future of warfare, the war in Ukraine, digital transformation and defense, and how to work with the government, you’ll want to hear our talk with Dr. Will Roper, a physicist and foreign policy strategist who served as the 13th Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, overseeing procurement for the U.S. Air Force and Space Force...

You’ll really enjoy our talk with Greg Brenneman. Getting insight from a leader in aviation, business, and investment gives us a great and broad perspective as we innovate at the intersection of tech and flight.   Some of you may know Greg as the President of Continental Airlines and an extraordinary airline and turnaround leader, some as a CEO or Board member of a number of large companies, and s...

In this episode, we have the great pleasure of talking to Dennis Muilenburg.  Dennis needs no introduction, but let’s highlight a few of his accomplishments – before his current role as CEO and Chairman of the Board of New Vista Acquisition Corporation, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company – or SPAC – Dennis was CEO and Chairman of the board of Directors at The Boeing Company, where he started as...

In this episode we speak with Lorenzo Murzilli, CEO of Murzilli Consulting. We discuss the state of the drone market in Europe, including the rate of commercial drone adoption, differences between EU and US, remaining gaps, and EASA regulations.    Listen to Lorenzo’s continuous emphasis on and importance of being aware of the hurdles in starting and running a drone business - and to embrace and n...

In this episode we’re speaking with Jim O’Sullivan, VP Regulatory Strategy and Special Projects at Matternet.  In case you missed it, Matternet became the first commercial delivery drone manufacturer to receive type certification from the FAA in September 2022. This is an important industry milestone because, according to the FAA, operators that want to provide a regular commercial delivery servic...

There are few who are more listened to in our industry than Richard Aboulafia, Managing Director at AeroDynamic Advisory.  We start with a discussion of the macro trends and drivers influencing the commercial and defense aviation markets. Then we engage in a terrific discussion on the future of aviation – and how geopolitics and technology will shape aviation in the coming years. Of course we talk...

Today we welcome Christian Ramsey and Ryan Braun from uAvionix to discuss next-generation avionics.  Ryan and Christian lead a successful company with real products for clear industry use-cases – in this case with size, weight, and power-optimized avionics – while straddling both the manned and unmanned markets. Listen to their conversation on the benefits of being in both markets. This is so impo...

Today we're talking about global navigation satellite systems - or GNSS - and in particular, their vulnerabilities to jamming and spoofing. Joining us in the conversation is Omer Sharar, CEO of infiniDome, a GPS security company based in Israel.  As a society, we have come to rely on GPS for countless things we do every day - to determine a position, navigate, track our packages, use maps, an...

In this episode we talk to Lisa Ellman, Executive Director of the Commercial Drone Alliance and Partner at Hogan Lovells.   Our discussion focuses on the regulatory and policy aspects of Advanced Air Mobility, and in particular the commercial drone industry.  Among other things, Lisa shares her thoughts and insights on Remote ID, operations over people, BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) ARC (Avi...

Better returns from tech investments, opportunities for innovators, what to focus on in AAM, challenges to overcome, batteries, and what will make AAM successful – you’ll want to listen to this conversation twice with Professor de Weck from MIT. He is the award winning author of “Engineering Systems: Meeting Human Needs in a Complex Technological World” and the week of our podcast released his new...

So here’s a great discussion with Jeff Smith, Chair of the huge Helicopter Association International. This podcast will be an eye opener for many – on how the helicopter industry has embraced AAM, and that the AAM industry should work collaboratively with the helicopter industry to ensure the same successes and overcome the challenges to help scale the AAM industry to eventual success.

James Poss is a retired United States Air Force Major General and now Founder and Chief Executive of ISR Ideas, an intelligence and unmanned aircraft systems consulting firm. His distinguished 30-year Air Force career in military intelligence included combat experience in four wars. Before transitioning out of the military General Poss was the Air Force’s senior career intelligence officer.  In th...

We welcome Ed Bolen, President & CEO of NBAA to The Vertical Space! At a time when so many are focusing on the building the flying vehicles, listen how Ed discusses what has made business aviation as vital as it is today – and if AAM wants to be successful, it should consider the ingredients of the business aviation success.  

We sat down with Rex Alexander - one of the preeminent global leaders on the topic of vertical flight infrastructure - and uncovered an entire pandora’s box of important infrastructure issues including the catch 22 involving eVTOL performance, passenger tolerance for ride quality, and business models. Rex takes the time to explain in painful detail all the different regulatory layers that impact h...

Professor Donald R. Sadoway is one world’s top experts on energy and batteries – one of the most important topics in our society, in aviation, and in AAM. There are few more important topics to our industry – and who better than Professor Sadoway to educate us on the topic – and talk about where we are and where innovation can take us. Professor Sadoway is the John F. Elliott Professor of Material...

We were delighted to interview the author of “Where Is My Flying Car,” J. (Josh) Storrs Hall. Check it out if you want to know what slowed the introduction of the flying car and how advanced air mobility can become a reality. A podcast worth listening to – and a great read! Thanks Josh for joining our show. 

Today we’re taking a look into the future of air traffic management with Chris Hewlett, a retired naval aviator with 30 years of experience in aviation operations, safety, modernization, and optimization of next generation aviation systems. In the conversation that follows, Chris offers thought provoking insights on how we as an industry should be thinking about the management of a truly integrate...