Committing $100,000 to Saving Lives with Drones Annually by Offering Discounts on Drone Training

DARTdrones Public Safety Chief Pilot and Lead 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.

Roger is a retired firefighter who has not only dedicated his life to helping others but has also committed himself to elevating the efficiency of fire, police, and other municipal department employees across the nation by training fire, police, and EMP personnel to become proficient at flying drones before, during, and after emergencies of all types. Roger co-developed the DARTdrones Part 107 test prep program which has aided in over 15,000 students passing their FAA Remote Pilot Exam, becoming FAA certified drone pilots. Roger also co-developed our public safety UAS classes which were taught to emergency service personnel globally. These courses include Search and Rescue, Thermal and Night Operations, and our online Disaster Response class for licensed UAS pilots looking to assist after natural disasters like hurricanes in Florida.

Roger started working as a commercial UAS pilot in 2015 and started his own drone business in 2018. He acquired his Remote Pilot Certificate on the first day it was made available August 29, 2016.

Roger has over 940 UAS flight hours and has trained over 1,000 Florida residents, small businesses, educational institutions, corporations, public safety officers and others on how to fly drones recreationally and professionally. He has also taught over 500 Florida residents the knowledge required to pass the FAA Certified Drone Pilot Knowledge Test.

In addition to his training and encouragement of safe flying practices to Florida residents, Roger has served as an Ambassador for Aviation Safety Volunteers as a FAAST Team 'Drone Pro' Representative.