Meet John Minor – Provost for Unmanned Vehicle University

Biography:

Prior to becoming Provost for Unmanned Vehicle University, Mr. Minor owned and operated American Eagle Aerospace LLC and was the Division Chief for the Air Force Sustainment Center’s Scientist and Engineer Strategic Workforce Management and Development Division, Ogden Air Logistics Center, Engineering Directorate, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Prior to that, he served as the Chief of the Systems Engineering Division for Hill AFB. Mr. Minor has over 36 years of professional experience and retired from the U.S. Department of the Air Force after serving over 27 years in both military and civilian capacities. Mr. Minor accumulated over 1500 flying hours in over 30 different aircraft types, including 400+ hours in the RF-4C and 300+ hours in the F-16B/D.

About Unmanned Vehicle University:

Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Unmanned Vehicle University (UVU) is the first University in the world licensed to grant Doctorate of Science Degrees in Unmanned Systems, Masters of Science Degrees in Unmanned Vehicle Systems Engineering, and a Professional Certificate in Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Management. The 100% online University also offers expert Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)/Drone pilot training, seminars, and short courses.

The University’s goal is to educate and train the next generation of Drone pilots and entrepreneurs seeking to build careers and businesses in this rapidly growing field. Our Doctorate and Masters degreed faculty and training pilots are experts in their respective fields of remote sensing, navigation, aviation, aeronautics, systems engineering, and flight test. Our UAV/Drone instructor pilots have combined total flying experience of more than 60,000 flight hours in UAVs that include Predator, Reaper, Global Hawk, Hermes, Heron, Aerostar and many small UASs (sUAS).

Perspectives on UAS in the next years:

Unmanned Aerial Systems, commonly known as drones to the general public, will someday become as commonplace as manned aircraft, trucks, and automobiles. They will be used in hundreds if not thousands of commercial and public safety applications. I agree with Google’s top rated futurist Thomas Frey of the DaVinci Institute who stated “…as we go down this path, (192 Future Uses for Future of Drones) we’ll also be unleashing millions of new startups that are destined to drive the economy for decades, if not centuries, to come.” Drones are going to revolutionize the way we do business and conduct commercial business operations just as much (or more) as the invention of the automobile and the airplane.

What the biggest challenges will be:

I see two:

#1: The drone industry in the USA needs the FAA to develop and implement the rules and regulations for commercial use of drones. The U.S. is well behind many countries in the commercialization of drone technology. One day U.S. drone operators with the proper education, experience, training, and certifications should be able to “file and fly” just like its currently done in manned commercial aviation.

#2: A second major challenge is educating the public that drones and drone technology are good for the economy and good for mankind! Recent media articles have shown that there is still a lot of fear that drones will be crashing everywhere or used for unlawful purposes. The general public still carries the idea that drones are like cruise missiles and only good for warfare. This is simply not true – commercial drones will make businesses and non-profit organizations more efficient and cost effective by replacing human beings and manned aircraft in applications such as environmental monitoring, precision agriculture, infrastructure inspection/repair, Film and TV cinematography, search and rescue, and real estate, just to name a few. Drone technology and safety have improved significantly over the last 5 years and will continue to improve over the next 5 to 15 years.