John Piasecki

John W. Piasecki, President & CEO of Piasecki Aircraft Corp., has over 35 years of experience in rotorcraft and UAV research and development for military and commercial use. His achievements include flight demonstration of  the X-49A compound helicopter, flight demonstration of the world’s first autonomous autogyro, and the first fully autonomous man-rated helicopter. Current projects focus on VTOL UAS, adaptive flight control, morphing aerostructures and hydrogen propulsion technologies. Piasecki, who won the Vertical Flight Society’s Paul E. Haueter Award for VTOL development, also is Vice Chair of DoD’s Vertical Lift Consortium and a Trustee of  the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale and is an FAA-certified pilot.