Jon is an electronics entrepreneur and private pilot with over 1,000 hours of flight time. He is the founder of Detroit Aircraft and Nextronix Inc. As a contract manufacturer, Jon spent 18 years prototyping and producing automotive, aerospace and communications industries. Nextronix developed one of the first Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Antennae systems in partnership with Motorola and Wieson Technologies. He is also the founder of Detroit Air Racing Inc.,which lead and facilitated the 2008 Detroit Red Bull Air Races, resulting in over $100 million in economic impact over three years for both Detroit and Windsor Ontario. In 2013, Jon teamed Lockheed Martin to manufacture and distribute the IndagosUAS VTOL for military, civil and commercial customers worldwide. Detroit Aircraft represents various public safety agencies in the United States to include the City of Detroit to the Federal Aviation Administration for UAS integration for public operations. Jon is also the founder of the Detroit Mobility Park (DMP), a non-profit 501C3, based at Detroit City Airport to facilitate autonomous air and ground mobility testing at the airport. The organization currently sponsors Wayne State’s Detroit Aerial Innovations Drone club with laboratory space, materials and funds to support advanced sensor and aircraft R & D. Detroit Aircraft provides Government and Enterprise customers with aerial data collection technologies and services. Detroit Aircraft is actively developing a new VTOL-Transition aircraft which uses hydrogen fuel cell technology to achieve over 4 hours flight operations for search and rescue and package delivery missions.
