Mark Kurzinski

Retired Naval Officer turned Drone Business Owner and Instructor
Chicago, IL
  • Aviation Experience

    900+ hours
  • Expertise

    Mapping/Modeling, Inspections, Photography/Cinematography
  • Drone Instructor Hours

    700+
  • Pilot Rating

    Pt 61 Multi PPT and Part 107
Mark Kurzinski is originally from Syracuse NY where he enlisted in the Navy in 1993 and spent 10 years as an Avionics Electronics Technician working on the F-14A/B/D Tomcat troubleshooting and repairing radar, communications and weapons systems. Mark was selected to an officer accession program in 2001 and attended Navy flight school in Pensacola FL where he flew the T-6a Texan II. Mark retired at the rank of Lieutenant in 2013 and quickly founded MidWest Drone Services in Cary IL in 2014 blending multiple passions of flying, photography and video/audio production and editing. He started in real estate photography/cinematography but soon found drones were being used for mapping/modeling and inspections. He has experience in the inspections realm in solar panel PV arrays, building façade inspections and orthomosaic mapping. Mark has over 700 hours flying DJI sUAS from the Phantom 2 all the way up to heavy rotor aircraft Matrice 210 v2 and Matrice 300 RTK. He has been a Part 107 pilot since 2016 and a Part 61 Multi-Engine private pilot since 2006 logging over 900 fixed-wing hours in military and civilian aircraft. Mark received a BA in Communication Studies/Broadcast Journalism from the University of San Diego in 2003 and was recently certified a Level 1 sUAS Thermographer from the Infrared Training Center in Nashua NH.