First of all, we want to apologize for our absence in the newsletter world for the past months. We assure you we’ve stayed busy, and we’re sure some of you have heard the news of why we were down in St. Croix. For those of you who haven’t, climb out from under your rocks!
We were with the USVI Department of Health and Association of Public Health Laboratories. Our mission? To save the world. Well, not quite. But it’s a decent step forward!
Our real mission was to deliver medical supplies and simulation vials across 43 miles from St. Croix to St. Thomas. They’ve had a real problem in the past getting from island to island during an epidemic or hurricane. When seaplanes are “grounded”, they are turning to boats, but due to the seas being so unpredictable, that was proving to be almost as dangerous. When they couldn’t find boats, they were forced to wait for availability which delayed progress and results for patients. With a drone, we can cut down this wait time, and do it while not putting lives at risk.
Oh, but this isn’t just any drone. This is the DS30 from Doosan Mobility Innovation. A hydrogen powered monster of the sky with 8 propellers and measuring 7ft across. These drones have easily become the biggest in our arsenal. Even after making the 43 mile trip, we still had some gas left in the tank! Our work in St. Croix highlights the value that drones present for the public health sector in quickly transporting supplies without posing additional risks to healthcare workers and suppliers.
Which leads us to the 800 pound grizzly in the room…COVID-19. Yeah, we said it. We know, we know, it’s all anyone is talking about. If ya didn’t receive the official statement from us on Wednesday, March 18th – we had some news. Due to this crazy virus, we decided to postpone all training classes scheduled before June 1st. Since we work with primarily public safety and all, we figured it best do our little part to keep you (and them) safe. If by some stroke of luck, the tunnel starts to show light by midApril, we will reassess.
During this time of social distancing, Skyfire is still working to grow and expand! We recently acquired a majority share of Viking UAS, an American drone manufacturer.
Here’s what Matt Sloane, our CEO, has to say about it, “after nearly six years of helping the public safety sector develop hundreds of UAS programs, we are thrilled to be able to add the vast engineering and manufacturing skills Viking offers to our portfolio.” Couldn’t have said it better, Mr. Sloane.
Viking will begin work immediately on developing purpose-built drone systems for Skyfire clients in police and fire departments, the oil and gas industry, and (most timely) in the global public health arena.
Needless to say, we are thrilled to welcome Chris Taylor, founder and nowDirector of Advanced Systems, and Chris Tarazewich, Advanced Systems Operations Manager, to the Skyfire team!
Check out the press release for more information.
And that should get you caught up on all things Skyfire, for now anyways. Back to your regular scheduled PropellerHeads!