Pitch Aeronautics

David oversees strategic business development bringing 20 years of industry experience alongside 28 years of Air Force service. He specializes in maturing and fielding new technologies including command and control, cyber, secure datalinks, and remotely piloted aircraft. While working for Scientific Research Corporation David won $2B+ in development contracts. He has acquired 7 SBIRs and STTRs

Ian oversees business operations and provides strategic direction for Pitch. He has significant experience in the defense acquisitions industry-leading multiple U.S. Government advanced technology programs valued in excess of $2B. Ian is a Marshall Scholar. He holds degrees from the U.S. Air Force Academy, The London School of Economics, and The London Business School.

Zach serves as Chief engineer for Pitch. He is recognized as a leading authority on cyclorotor technology. He is the named inventor on multiple cyclorotor patents and has published extensively on the topic. Zachary holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He obtained a M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue as a National Defense Science and Engineering Fellow and performed cyclorotor/cycloturbine research at the Air Force Research Labs. He founded and grew Pitch Aeronautics while serving in the U.S. Air Force as an F-15E Strike Eagle pilot.

Alex started with Pitch as an Undergraduate Intern at Boise State University. As an intern he designed and built the active thermography sensor hardware and led development of a crack width measurment sensor. Alex is currently a graduate student in the robot controls laboratory where his graduate research is focusing on sensor fusion to provide Astria with more precise navigation when near infrastructure and other objects. Alex continues to work at Pitch Aero in paralllel to his graduate studies.

Hugh is completing his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at Boise State University. He is the president of the Aerospace Club at Boise State where he led avionics and power system desgin for a solar-powered UAV, as well as designed and built several other unique drones. As a mechanical engineering intern Hugh helped design the drone wiring harness, hardware, and facilitated laboratory and flight testing of Astria.

Following completion of his doctorate in Controls Engineering at University of Minnesota, Professor Chiasson worked at Boeing Aerospace, Bombardier, and Honeywell as a controls engineer. In 2006 he became a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Boise State University where his research focuses on controls and machine learning. He has written three textbooks on systems modeling, controls, control of electrical machines, and stochastic processes. Professor Chiasson has assisted and guided design of the flight control system on Astria.

Julianna is completing her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Boise State University (BSU). She is president of the BSU Mechanical Engineering Club where she has led the team to their first ever win at the ASME international competition for the innovation of human powered vehicles. She's an active member of the Society of Women engineers and fluent in American sign language. As an intern Julianna is helping to improve the drone power system, and structures on the drone.

Mansi is a flight controls engineer. Put simply, she makes a computer the best pilot in the world. On our team, she has been engineering, designing, and implementing our control systems, giving Astria the ability to fly with precision. Mansi graduated with a M.S. from Embry Riddle University in Unmanned and Autonomous Systems Engineering. Mansi's experimental thesis research was on fault-tolerant flight control systems allowing drones to continue flying in event of a mechanical failure.