December 2017 http://www.inflightusa.com 35
Theinve stme nt reinforc es uAv ionix’s
mi ssion to enable airs pa ce awa ren ess
thr ou ghhighintegr ity aviation solution s
for both manne dand unm ann ed aircraft.
uAv ion ix Corp ora tion – a lead ing
prov ider ofcomm unicatio ns, nav igation ,
and surveil lance (CNS) solutio ns for
ma nned and unmanned airc raf t –
anno unc edtoday it has clos ed a$5 mil -
lion round of fundi ng led by new inv esto r
Airbu sVe nt ur es andwith con tin ui ng par-
tic ipa tion from existing inve stors
Pla yground Gl obal and Redpoint
Ve nt ures. uAvioni x also expe cts to
anno unc eaddi tional parti cipan ts in thi s
Se riesBroun dsho rtly. This inve stme nt
br ings uAvi on ix’ s total fun ding to $10
milli on ,fur ther accel erat ing its prod uct
inn ovat ion and global exp ansi on.
Thenew equ ity fund ingfuels expan-
sion of the com pan y’s pr od uct line and
services inbo thun mann ed andmanned
aviation. uAv ion ix’sig na turecap abilities
for uni quel yinnov atinglower size weig ht
andpowe rcon sum pti on(SWaP) pr od ucts
achieve attract ivepricepoints forawid e
rangeof hi ghqu alityproducts: since its
foun di ngin201 5, uAv ionix has lau nched
ove r 20 successfu l products including
ADS -B tran sceiv ers , receivers, ModeA/C/ Stransponder s, andGNS Sposition
sources forgenera laviatio n,drones, and
airpor tsurface vehicles for boththe cer ti-
fied anduncert ified mark ets.
Withitslead invest mentinthisround ,
Airbus Ven tures CE OTh oma sd’Hal luin
joi nsuAvi onix’sBoardofDi rect ors. “At
Airbus Ventures ,we’ re constantlyonthe
lookout for inno vativ e co mpanies
enab ling futur e airspace int egrat ion for
bothunman ned aircr aft and eVT OL trans-
portation,” not es d’Hallu in.“In arem ark-
abl y short span of tim e uAv ioni x has
eme rge d as both product- and thought-
lea der s in this critic al space. Airb usVentures is excitedto comeon boardand
helpfurtherpropel itssucc ess.”
Paul Be ard, CEO uAvionix add s,
“We woul dn’t be whe re we are tod ay
witho ut the pi on eeringinvestment team
of Playground Global and Redpoint
Ventur es, and we arehonoredtheycon-
tinue tobel iev einusandourmissionand
de cide dto invest furthe rinthi sround.
Now withtheadditionofAirbusVentures
and the po we rho us e it represents, we
could n’t be more thr illedabou twh atwill
be achie vedtog ethe r.”
Formor einfor mation,visitourweb-
site: www .ua vion ix.com.UAVIO NIX,L EAD ER IN DRO NE COMM UN ICATI ON S,N AVIG AT ION, AN D
SUR VEI LLA NC ESYS TE MS,S ECU RES$5 M ILL ION IN FUN DING
Former Ai rcraf tCom man de rfor the
United Sta tesAi rFo rce, Nate Delan ey ha s
bigpla ns for U.S. Spo rt Aviation Exp othis
Jan. 24 -27 at Se br ing Reg ion al Airp ort.
He’s rep rese nti ng Cirr us Air craft and
offerin g attend ees a chance to see their
flags hi pmod el, theSR22 T, firsthan d.
Delaney, no wthe Sales Dire ctor for
Cirrus in So ut hFlor ida&the Bah ama s,
willshow case theicon ic SR2 2T fron tand
center at the eve nt in Januar y. Cirr us
Aircraf t has ide ntif ied the reg ion as agrowi ng marke t and they ha ve ma de
Sebring’sEx po the ir fir st exhibitio nof the
201 8 sea son. Base d at Fo rt Lauder da le
Ex ec uti ve Airpo rt, Dela ney is well
equ ipped toha ndl efutu re clien tneed s.
“We expe ct to sur pass 7, 000 in
Cir rusaircraftde liveries by thesumme r
of 2018, ”saidDelaney. For 14 yea rs and
coun tin g, the SR22 serie shas be en the
be st selli ng aircraftin itsclas s.
Ci rrus Aircraft anno unced earlie r
this ye artha tne wcustom er airc raf tdel iv-eries ofits SRline of air craftreacheda
recen tmulti -ye ar hi gh of 317 unit sfor
2016 .Furth erhi ghligh ting theye ar were
init ial cus tome rdeliv eri es of thewo rld’s
first singl e- engi ne Pe rsonal Jet, the
Cirr us Visi on® Jet ,as thr ee units were
del iver ed to custome rs in theU.S.
Tot al new airc raft del ive ries in 2016
ma rk the thi rd cons ecu tive year that
Cirr us has deliv eredmorethan300 unit s
and highli gh ts steady grow th ove r the
pas teight ye ars–anincr ease of almost20 pe rcentsinc e20 09.Therecordper-
forma nc e pro pe lled Cirrus to a gl obal
fleetofmor ethan 6,500SRseriesaircraft
in ove r60 count ries.
For infor ma tio n about U.S. Sp ort
Aviat ionExp o, inc ludi ngticke tpurchas e,
visit http://www. sport aviati one xpo.com/. Fo r
informat ion abou tCirrusAircraft,vi sit cir-
rusai rcr aft.com.CIRR USAIRCR AF T ONDISPL AY ATU. S. SPORT AVIAT IONEXPO
Bui lding on the success ofthefirst
annu al DroneZone even t in 201 7, the
seco nd annual event will targ et bot h
commer cial busi nesses and racing enthu-
siasts at the U.S. Spo rt Aviati on Exp o.
Li ve broa dca sts again this ye ar by
FPVliv e.tv are expected to draw more
than 22,0 00 indiv idual us er views as well
as tradi tional medi acoverage fro mmany
broa dca stingorganiz ations.
Dr one Zo ne willfeature on eofthe
larg est dr one races in the world with par-
tici pa nt s from all majo r cont inen ts in
2018’s pre mi er kickoff racing and
exhi bit or event .Hi ghl ight ingtheexcite -
men twillbe bot hteam and indiv idual
pilot rac es with winnin g priz es of
$20, 00 0for each category.
Withan expe ctedge ne raladmi ssio n
attendance of more than 10, 000,the event
isnot to be miss ed by notonly spo rt pi lot
enthus iasts, and pro-a m dro ne racin g
pilots, but also real tor s, privateinvestig a-
tors, const ruc tionman agers, lawenforce-
ment officials, emerg ency ma na gers, insu r-
ance adj usters, and otherpro fes sio nal serv-
ices that seek to exp andandenha nce the
success of the irbusi nesse susingdro nes.
Learn ing Ce nt er an d Ve nd or
Are a:Drone Zo ne wi ll feature a4,00 0-
squ are-f oot Learnin g Center , and an
8,000- squa re-foot Drone ve ndo rarea and
Dron epilot tentfocused oncomme rci al
pilo ts and busi ne sses look ingto utiliz e
thetechn ology and effici enc yofDro ne-
basedda taandimagi ng col lec tion.
Dron eZone wi llbe an unpr eced ented
live exper ience and immers ive enviro n-
ment wi thdrones flying over and aro un d
theaudi ence andthe exhibito rs’areas at
speeds upto100 MPH. Spectato rswill be
abl etoge twi thinfive feet oftheactio n,
withprot ect ive nettingforsaf eview ing.
Off icialRac ePar tner:Multi GP isthe offi ci al race pa rtner for the
Drone Zone this yea r.
RaceSancti oning &Mana geme nt is
by Mul tiGP. The Dro ne even t is pro -
du ced by Air Op s&Sebr ingRegiona l
Airpor t. Race announc ement wi ll be
emce ed by Joe Scully withFPVRacin g
Ev ents and broa dcast by FPV live.tv.
Dron e Exp ert , Kat Swain:Kat
Swain–instr uctorof mi lit ary andcivilia n
pilots andadrone pilotexpert–wil lbein
attend anceintheDr oneZo neaswellas a
speaker attheSe br ingEx po.
Kat is Se nio r Direc tor of UAS
Membershi p and Pro gra ms for AOPA.
Likema nyofthose whohave helpedhar-
ness the powe r of dro nes for beneficial
uses, Kathleen“Kat”Sw ain wasama nned
pilotbeforeshe became aremo tepilot, and
brought theperspectiveofapilotwithmu l-
tipl eratings, includingflig htinstr uctor,to
thede velop me ntandoperationofdr ones.She’sinstr uc tedmilitary andcivi lian
pi lots and ha s flown drones for many
pu rpo ses, includ ing insurance industry
support and humanitarian missions.
Swa in joine dAO PA’s staff to create a
pl an for dr one s.
Kat said, “Havi ng witnessed first-
ha nd, how dron etechnol og ycanimp rov e
pr oc esses(suc hasclaimsadjustingand
ot her inspe cti on s)andalsohelpsociety
(thr ou gh search and rescue or ma p-
pi ng/su rve yin ghurricanedama gedareas
for rebuild ing) ,Iamastrong supporterof
the technolo gy. For me, mann ed and
un man ned are not very different. We
sharethesame airspa ce,weenjoyavi a-
tion, andwearepilots!”
The 2018Expoisscheduled forJan.
24-27. To lear n mor e, vi sit
ww w. sportaviationexpo. com, twi tter.com/
USAviat ionE xpo, facebook. com/Spor t
Av iationEx po/.LIVE DRO NE EVENT BROAD CAST FORU.S.SPORT AVIAT IONEXPO
AT SEBRI NGREGIO NA LAIRPO RT TH ISJANUA RY
Drone Update