Uncrewed Views

Episodi

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  Building the Next Generation of Drone Pilots, with Steffanie Rivers 29.07.2026 25min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Steffanie Rivers, Founder of TCB Drones and TCB Drones Academy. The two discuss workforce development in the commercial drone industry, the National HBCU Aviation and Drone Leadership Initiative Steffanie launched this summer, and how regulatory shifts like Part 108 and the FCC's covered list are shaping the path for new pilots entering the field.
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  Part 108 Timelines and the Case for a Commercial Industrial Base with Censys Technologies' Trevor Perrott 15.07.2026 24min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Trevor Perrott, CEO and Co-Founder at Censys Technologies. The two discuss realistic timelines for Part 108 implementation, what operators should be doing now to prepare for BVLOS adoption, and the deeper economic forces behind domestic drone manufacturing and NDAA compliance.
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  Vetting Drone Pilots at Scale with Raad's Chris Tavani 08.07.2026 28min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Chris Tavani, Chief Growth Officer at Raad. The two discuss how the company vets and ranks drone pilots at scale, the software tools Raad uses for real-time quality control, and what smaller operators should look for when hiring pilots on their own.
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  Getting DAA Ready for Part 108 with Kraettli Epperson of Vigilant Aerospace Systems 01.07.2026 27min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Kraettli Epperson, CEO of Vigilant Aerospace Systems. The two discuss how detect-and-avoid technology works under the hood, what the Part 108 NPRM means for operators preparing for BVLOS operations, and what steps operators and manufacturers can take now to be ready when the final rule is published. Link to Commercial UAV News' State of the Industry Survey, closing July 3: https://survey.divcom.com/s3/COMMERCIAL-DRONE-INDUSTRY-State-of-the-Industry-Survey-2026
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  Getting Ready for Part 108 with FlyFreely's David Cole 24.06.2026 28min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Dr. David Cole, co-founder and CEO of FlyFreely. The two discuss lessons the U.S. can draw from Australia's BVLOS regulatory transition, what Part 107 operators need to know as Part 108 approaches, and the overlooked operational challenges organizations should be planning for now. Link to Commercial UAV News' State of the Industry Survey: https://survey.divcom.com/s3/COMMERCIAL-DRONE-INDUSTRY-State-of-the-Industry-Survey-2026
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  Matternet's Alex Norman on Why Drone Delivery Is Finally Taking Off 17.06.2026 22min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Alex Norman, COO of Matternet. The two discuss the company's recent reverse merger that made Matternet the first pure-play drone delivery company publicly traded in the U.S., the lessons Matternet has carried from medical logistics into direct-to-consumer delivery, and what gaps still need to be closed before drone delivery reaches its full potential nationwide. Link to Commercial UAV News' State of the Industry Survey: https://survey.divcom.com/s3/COMMERCIAL-DRONE-INDUSTRY-State-of-the-Industry-Survey-2026
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  From Detroit to the World Cup: Recent Industry News 03.06.2026 27min

  On this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins runs through some of the biggest topics from the industry over the last month, including takeaways from XPONENTIAL, the outlook for the World Cup, and the Section 2209 NPRM. 
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  Beyond Detection: How Critical Infrastructure Is Rethinking Drone Risk 13.05.2026 24min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Melissa Swisher, CRO at SkySafe. The two discuss drone threats facing critical infrastructure operators, how the recent Section 2209 NPRM and GridEx VII are reshaping airspace security, and what detection and response actually looks like on the ground for these owners.
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  Building the Full Stack for Counter UAS Technology, with Matt Kling 06.05.2026 26min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Matt Kling, VP and general manager of AI Systems at MatrixSpace. The two discuss how the Safer Skies Act has shaped demand for counter-UAS technology, why gaps still exist between what agencies need and what's being deployed, and how MatrixSpace is approaching the counter-UAS challenge as a radar-first, hardware-and-software hybrid company.
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  The Gap Between Collecting Great Data and Delivering It 29.04.2026 28min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Russell Hall and Greg Floor, Senior Survey Project Managers at Langan Engineering. The three discuss how Langan fuses drone, mobile mapping, and ground-based sensor data into cohesive deliverables for complex private-sector projects, the real bottlenecks in getting rich datasets into the hands of non-technical clients, and how the FCC foreign drone ban and upcoming Part 108 rulemaking are shaping fleet decisions and long-range operational planning.
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  How Drones Are Changing the Game for Executive Protection and Event Security 15.04.2026 29min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Kevin Padilla, founder of AeroVis, and Allan Ring, founder of Critical Security Solutions. The three discuss how drones are being used for pre-mission 3D mapping and real-time surveillance in executive protection, the cross-vertical lessons Kevin brought from agricultural drone operations to the security space, and how high-profile assassination attempts have accelerated drone adoption among private security professionals.
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  Gaussian Splatting 101 with Michael Rubloff 08.04.2026 23min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Michael Rubloff, Founder of RadianceFields.com. The two discuss what Gaussian Splatting is and how it differs from traditional photogrammetry, why and how drone pilots and geospatial professionals in AEC and construction are already putting it to work, what drone pilots need to know about the technique, and what's on the horizon as spatial intelligence gets layered on top of real-time 3D reconstruction.
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  Embodied AI and the Future of Autonomous Swarms 01.04.2026 26min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Ben Wolff, President and CEO of Palladyne AI. The two discuss the concept of embodied AI and how putting intelligence on the drone itself changes performance in GPS-denied and communications-degraded environments, how Palladyne's Pilot Swarm OS enables a single operator to manage a fleet of autonomous drones, and an interesting new use case that illustrates just how broadly autonomous swarming technology could be applied.
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  Building Public Trust and Scaling Drone Delivery with Beth Flippo of DEXA 25.03.2026 27min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Beth Flippo, CEO and founder of DEXA (Drone Express), about the state of drone delivery in 2026. The two discuss DEXA's new pilot program with Grubhub in New Jersey, the unique challenges of operating in an urban environment compared to more rural deployments, and what it takes to earn both regulatory approval and public trust as the industry works toward mainstream adoption.
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  How Titan Protection Security Scaled Drone Operations with a Nationwide BVLOS Waiver 18.03.2026 25min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Ryan Smith, founder and president of Titan Protection Security, about how the company has been at the forefront of integrating drones into physical security operations for over a decade. The two discuss Titan's journey from early drone experimentation in 2014 to securing a nationwide BVLOS waiver from the FAA, the process behind the company's recent one-to-many approval allowing a single remote pilot to oversee up to four drones across multiple states, and how the evolving regulatory landscape is shaping the company's growth strategy and its vision for the future of drone-as-a-service in the security industry.
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  Building Out A Drone-as-a-Service Model Through Acquisition 11.03.2026 29min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Linda Montgomery, Vice President of Corporate Development, and Phil Franklin, Vice President of Business Development at ZenaTech, about the company's aggressive push into the drone-as-a-service market. The three discuss ZenaTech's rapid acquisition strategy across sectors like land surveying, power washing, and infrastructure inspection, the cultural challenges of integrating more than 20 companies in roughly a year, and how the evolving regulatory landscape is shaping the company's domestic manufacturing ambitions.
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  The Technology and Regulation Behind Modern Drone Light Shows 18.02.2026 25min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Rodrigo Serzedello, CEO and co-founder of Creative Skies, about the growing drone light show industry. The two discuss the technological advances enabling large-scale aerial performances, the regulatory waiver process for flying swarms at night, and how companies navigate safety concerns following high-profile incidents.
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  Scaling Operations and Workforce Development in the BVLOS Future 11.02.2026 36min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with James McDanolds, the director of uncrewed technology at the Sonoran Desert Institute. The two talk about shifts in workforce development and hiring in a BVLOS-centric world, including the roles that will be most in demand following the final rule for Part 108, any potential lags in filling positions in the immediate aftermath of the regulation, and advice for those trying to break into the industry today.
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  Managing Airspace Threats at the World Cup, Olympics, and Beyond 04.02.2026 23min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views Matt Collins talks with Tom Adams, formerly of the FBI and current Director of Public Safety at DroneShield. In the conversation, Adams discusses the evolution of counter-UAS operations at major events like the Super Bowl and upcoming World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games, explains how the Safer Skies Act is expanding authorities for state and local law enforcement, and breaks down why effective airspace security requires layered detection and mitigation approaches.
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  A Geo Week Preview for Commercial UAV Professionals 28.01.2026 20min

  In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins sits down with Carla Lauter, the senior content manager for Geo Week and Geo Week News. In the conversation, Lauter talks about what the upcoming Geo Week conference and exhibition is all about, what sessions and topics will be of interest to professionals within the commercial UAV space, what's new for this year's event, and more.