OUR PASSION is Public Safety DRONE OPERATIONS
Nic is the founder of Darkwing Drones and a public safety UAS program development specialist. He works with fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and emergency management organizations to build structured drone programs that integrate FAA compliance, operational deployment, and leadership oversight. His programs focus on reducing liability exposure, improving incident intelligence, and developing sustainable UAS teams capable of long-term operational success. Nic has trained multi-agency public safety teams and developed advanced drone leadership and reconnaissance curriculum specifically for emergency response environments.
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Nic is a highly experienced FAA Commercial Helicopter Pilot, a former Rotorcraft Certified Flight Instructor, a FAA Part 107 sUAS Remote Pilot and Chief sUAS Pilot. Nic is a career firefighter that works with many different public safety agencies helping them establish and build a drone program specializing in integrating sUAS operations into search and rescue operations. Nic has nearly two decades of knowledge and experience in the aviation industry, which includes helicopter flight training operations, FAA Part 91 operations, FAA Part 135 charter operations, tour pilot, powerline patrol, aerial photography, video operations, private operators and consulting.
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Nic is currently the Chief Drone Pilot for his career fire department. He has built a successful drone program that consists of 20 pilots and a fleet of 20 drones. Their drone operations include searching for missing persons, assisting law enforcement for various missions, Rescue Task Force operations, recon operations, providing overwatch for parades, festivals, concerts, events, traffic management, storm damage assessment, Swiftwater search and rescue, fire investigations and structure fires.
Nic is proud to have trained pilots from all over the world and has maintained an impeccable safety record throughout his career. He is a member of DroneResponders and serves as a public safety liaison for the drone community. Nic is passionate about building public safety drone programs to help first responders save lives with drones.