dan currently flies the skies around new mexico with a DJI phantom 4 pro, mavic 2 pro, parrot anafi and his sixth custom-built vehicle, a heavily-modified DJI F550 hexacopter ("brutus III").  he can also be found physically in the skies flying a cessna skyhawk or piper cherokee.

an architect with more than 30 years of experience, dan is a partner in the largest design firm in new mexico.  he earned his private pilot certificate in 2002 and has flown UAVs for several years.

dan's forays into the world of drones began in 2015 with the construction of a custom quadcopter ("frank") while waiting patiently for the delivery of his first consumer drone, the newly released 3DR solo.  frank met several untimely deaths due to abrupt intersections with trees, the ground, other trees - each time being repaired with new, improved parts and systems.  meanwhile, the solo drone was finally delivered, opening up the world of aerial video, scanning and mapping.

dan loves photographing and creating videos of the places he visits.  but his real passion is for the powerful data collection that UAVs make possible.  he has created many models and maps of the new mexico terrain purely for the fun, and has introduced UAVs for data collection within his architectural firm.  this work includes production of site orthomosaics, topographic models and documentation of existing structures.  

qualifications:

• FAA part 107 remote pilot certificate (obtained on the first day possible after implementation of part 107 rules)

• FAA part 61 private pilot certificate.

• presenter at 2019 pix4d user conference, with case study of converting high-memory point clouds and meshes into sketchup.

• certified pix4d user with high comfort level with production of models, maps, topos, etc.

• flight training certificate through unmanned vehicle university - 30 hours of ground and flight training

• confidence using final cut pro X, adobe photoshop and many other graphics software platforms

• experience with a variety of UAV logging, programming and modeling systems: mission planner, UgCS, eCalc, pix4d capture, drone deploy, skycatch, skyward, litchi, autopilot, DJI go 4, and others.

• over 30 years of business and design experience

• bachelor of architecture 1985, kansas state university