Christopher Rudolph

DARTdrones Instructor and Consultant, Chris Rudolph, grew up exposed to aviation from a very early age. Even before his teens, Chris began building and operating unmanned systems recreationally. When eighteen, he started training for his Private Pilot certificate, and even after earning this certificate, he never lost interest in unmanned flights, spending countless hours building and flying several types of unmanned aircraft. Chris has been flying manned aircraft for almost thirty years and has over thirty years of experience with unmanned systems.

Chris’ passion for public safety led him to becoming a certified fireman, EMT and ultimately pursuing a career in law enforcement. During his law enforcement career, he was on several specialty units, including the School Safety Team, Dive Team, Spec. Ops. (SWAT) Team, Collision Reconstruction Unit and UAS Unit. As supervisor of the UAS Unit, Chris integrated the UAS Unit to all the other teams, including K9, after recognizing how the sUAS could dramatically enhance safety and the likelihood of positive outcomes. He also spent a considerable amount of time helping other agencies realize these benefits and helped them to build UAS Units while providing training assistance, on-call support and mutual aid to all the agencies he worked with. Along with assisting law enforcement, he helped local fire departments. Some examples of his public safety drone flight and teaching experience include crime and crash scene reconstruction, mapping, photography, search and rescue, overwatch, civil unrest and large events, water operations, fire operations, interior flights/building clearing and pursuit, as well as information gathering for tactical operations and narcotics units. In addition to sUAS, Chris operated land and underwater unmanned systems for various missions. In December of 2023, Chris retired at the rank of Lieutenant after nearly twenty-two years of service to his agency and community. Approximately one month later, he returned to the law enforcement role for the same agency to assist patrol on a part-time basis. He is still an EMT and still helps volunteer fire departments in his area.

In 2018, Chris founded his own drone business, which he still operates today. His company offers private and commercial services in the areas of photography and videography, inspection, mapping and modeling, construction, pet search and rescue, private security and asset protection, as well as training and consulting. This experience, coupled with his public safety and private experience, allows him to provide experienced and professional DARTdrones training and consulting services to all of our clients.