Air Cargo Next is pleased to announce that Ed de Reyes, chair and chief executive of Sabrewing Aircraft, will be a panelist at the third annual Air Cargo Tech Summit on Oct. 21-22 at the JW Marriott Frankfurt in Germany.
View the full event agenda here.
De Reyes will join the session “Key advancements in drone development and deployment,” on Oct. 22 at 11:45 a.m. CET. Panelists will discuss:
Drone infrastructure and networks; Cargo use cases for drones beyond medical shipments; and Progress among piloted and uncrewed drones and drone startups.
Oxnard, Calif.-based Sabrewing develops cargo drones that can fly in remote locations with sparse infrastructure and challenging weather conditions.
Cargo airline Ameriflight signed a letter of intent last year to purchase 35 vertical takeoff and landing air cargo drones from Sabrewing. The agreement for the Rhaegal-A aircraft, also known as Alpha, will enable Ameriflight to carry more than 1 tonne of cargo per flight to off-airport landing zones
“Air cargo drones have seen many new designs in the last few years, and while some promise a lot, they are woefully inadequate in cargo volume and weight, mainly because the designers have no experience in the air cargo industry or with aircraft design,” de Reyes told Air Cargo Next. “They build an air vehicle with low utility, then try to force customers to accept that design.”
Alternatively, de Reyes and his company work to offer “a heavy-lift, high-volume air cargo [uncrewed aerial vehicle] that can go anywhere, in any weather,” he said.
De Reyes is a U.S. Air Force veteran and entrepreneur. He has helped develop a patent for a nitrogen-powered turbine engine, among other technologies. He has worked as a test pilot for experimental aircraft and as a flight test engineer.
De Reyes previously worked at McDonnell Douglas, Aerotest, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Cobalt, Elytron and Moller International, and served as the chief technology officer for a carbon capture and storage startup based on technology that he invented.
Join Air Cargo Next for the third annual Air Cargo Tech Summit on Oct. 21-22 at the JW Marriott Frankfurt in Germany. For more information on the summit and to register, click here.
