Soaring to New Heights: My Journey in the Drone Industry

By Ryan Walsh

Drones are one of the most rewarding and challenging industries I could have found myself in. Having started my career in the 75th Ranger Regiment, it quickly became clear to me that uncrewed aerial vehicles would be a massively disruptive technology—on par with the cell phone and the internet. I believe there is no other industry so ripe for fresh ideas, new enthusiasm, and youthful passion to be rewarded.

Whether it’s inspecting a cell tower in a tenth of the time it would have taken before, without any risk to your crew, or delivering medicines daily to a remote village that previously only received them once a month, drones are already making people’s lives easier and better. If I could go back in time, the only thing I’d change is getting started in aviation earlier.

When people think of aviation, they imagine planes and helicopters carrying passengers across the world, which has become a mainstay in our society. But drone and aviation careers hold the same possibilities. I came from a rough childhood and didn’t always have my basic needs met, so I joined the military. It seemed like the best place to get a fresh start, but when I left the military, I was just as lost as when I joined. It wasn’t until I immersed myself in the world of drones that I realized a career in aviation could take me places I never thought possible.

After reading everything I could find about drones and learning all I could about the industry, I filed my first patent application for drone technology in 2013. Now, I am the CEO of a drone company at the forefront of technology. If you had asked me 25 years ago if I thought this was possible, I would have emphatically said no. But here I am, much to my own surprise, with 34 granted patents for my drone-related inventions and customers all over the world. I get to meet fascinating people and make a true difference in the world. The impact is visible in real time—whether it’s connecting a village to a hospital or saving an hour of traffic by flying a meal over a bay. The results and impacts are tangible and incredibly meaningful. That’s an hour we just saved a mom with her kids in the car, or time we gave a nurse who has to travel by boat, car, and on foot to bring supplies to remote villages. That mom can now spend more time with her kids, and that nurse can now spend more time with her patients. Seeing that kind of real impact makes everything worthwhile.

Aviation is by no means easy, and it’s often so challenging that it’s frustrating, but I couldn’t imagine myself working on anything else.