About

Steve Delasantos

Steve is a Video Editor at PROPS. He graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado with a degree in Video Production/Editing and has spent years honing his craft in the professional arena. He is owner of Delasantos Visual Media, a small corporate/commercial video facility focused primarily on marketing, product video solutions and documentary film. Steve balances his work with music and thus maintains a healthy side gig playing drums for various local groups throughout the state. He currently calls Tijeras, NM home.

Mahesh Bhat

Mahesh is a Member Support Specialist at PROPS. He graduated with a degree in Production Engineering in India and is a certified project management professional. Mahesh is passionate about business, project management, new technologies and customer service. Mahesh and his wife reside in Toronto, Canada along with their 4 year old son.

Kirill Kokorev

Kirill is a Video Editor and filmmaker with vast experience in TV, podcasts and short films. In everlasting love with storytelling and his family, Kirill has also been with PROPS since we started. He manages all things related to the Ask PROPS Podcast editing, and often jumps in to help with other editing projects we have going on.

Gaurav Shah

Gaurav is a copywriter and digital marketer with vast experience of helping online businesses, consultants and coaches. He loves finding creative solutions that have the biggest impact on business operations. At PROPS, Gaurav handles just about everything that is posted on the site: blogs, courses, videos, resources, webinars, etc. He has an MS from Virginia Tech. In his free time, he loves a good book and a game of tennis.

Nico Fernandez

Nico is our the quentsential “Creative Director” for PROPS, and has been since the start! Bottom line is Nico makes us look good. When you like what you see from us, it’s generally because of Nico. When you don’t like what you see from us, it’s generally from…well, let’s just leave that up to your imagination.

PJ Kirkpatrick

PJ has been one of Drone U’s Elite Pilot Instructors since the group\’s inaugural event back in 2018. He is the on-camera instructor for Drone U’s Construction Mapping and Cell Tower Mapping online classes. In addition, he’s trained over 1,200 students across the US in data acquisition, post-processing data for mapping deliverables and 3D models, and advanced UAS flight maneuvers.

Jason Flakes

Jason Flakes, President & CEO, is a distinguished designer and award winning architectural photographer based in Washington DC. His educational training from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University has helped him establish the prolific multi-media company, Nomoi Design, in 2008. Jason established Visual14 in 2017, an exclusive collection of exceptional photoraphers that provide full photography and videography production services nationwide.

Kevin Lederer

Kevin has been a DroneU Elite Pilot since the beginning in 2018. Kevin was invited to judge the DroneU Videography event at both the first Drone U Fly-In(2016) and the second in 2018. He has had the great experience of instructing many types of pilots from beginner pilots, construction pilots, fire department personnel and swat teams to mention a few.

Kevin is the owner and operator of Sky King Images which was established in 2015. He began work involving flying residential real estate, which progressed to commercial real estate photography and videography. In 2019, he signed his first large contract for construction progression footage of TopGolf Albuquerque, with the contract lasting one year. In 2020, he signed his second construction progression contract, with a contractor building an Amazon Distribution facility. The contract was for multiple weekly flights for two years. In the fall of 2020, he signed another one year construction progression contract for the same contractor building a second Amazon Distribution facility. In 2021, he signed his third one year contract with the same contractor building a third amazon facility. All of these contracts provided him the opportunity to fly many missions; mapping, still photos, videos along with interior photos and videos. Kevin has over 800 flight hours in the last three years alone.

In addition, he had contracts to map multiple cell towers in the greater Albuquerque, NM area. He has contracts with ranchers to provide mapping and agriculture spraying in multiple states

Paul Aitken

Paul is a techy through and through. He loves all things drone, design, and photography related, and is passionate about teaching others how to safely and profitably operate their drones. He loves to travel, and the perfect day would be spent near water. And when he’s not on the go, he and his wife enjoy Albuquerque sunsets with a smooth Merlot.

Tom Powers

Born and raised in Boise, ID Tom has been flying UAS commercially since December 2016. Tom had been aware of drones but had not thought of using them for anything other than recreational use. That is until a tumble off of a ladder during a roof inspection in October 2016. At this point Tom knew there had to be a better, safer, and quicker way to get the data needed to make actionable decisions. Using his decade of claims experience Tom was able help and integrate UAS in a scaleable way into the insurance claims handling process.

Glenn Labay

Glenn has a long career in tech. Having spent 45 years in the music industry as an Emmy Nominated Audio Engineer, Producer, Tour Manager, Lighting Designer, Director of Photography, Video Editor, Camera Operator and Recording Studio Engineer the world of unmanned systems was an easy transition for him. In 2015 when he first heard about the flying camera industry he was all in. Flying his first drone, a $45.00
Syma X5 for several months he safely learned the basics of quadcopter flight.

Dave and Jon Schwalm

Dave and Jon Schwalm, Owners of Northeast Dronez since 2012, are a Father/Son Team from Central New York with over a decade of drone experience. Dave\’s Construction Executive background grew the need for a better way to photograph large construction projects, which naturally pushed them into Drones.

Islam Mohamed

As a youngster, Izzy was always intrigued by RC cars and could spend hours playing around with them. In 2014, when the Inspire 1 was released, Izzy and his fellow IT colleagues joked about quitting and starting their own drone company and how much fun it would be. When his best friend, Mike, visited from Florida in the winter of 2017 with a OJI Mavic, his first flight solidified that flying drones would indeed be a lot of fun. Technology was always a passion for Izzy as well. Instead of pursuing Engineering, a talk with one of his “Engineering Academy” teachers in High School opened up his eyes to a new Information Technology Program Penn State University was offering, Information Sciences and Technology. Off to Happy Valley in Central Pennsylvania he was. After graduation, Izzy worked in the IT field for a medical company outside of Philadelphia but did not see himself sitting at a desk forever. In October of 2017, with his first born son, Gabriel, only being 3 months old, Izzy was in an unfortunate motorcycle accident. One late night during his 6 months of recovery, a YouTube video opened up his eyes to the world of Commercial Drones and how they were being used for various inspections. Eureka! This was the day Izzy decided he would start a drone business. With both of his Grandfathers being business owners in Egypt, the entrepreneurial spirit had always been lingering inside of him but Izzy knew for sure that the future of drones and technology would have a huge impact in this modern world and this was a great opportunity to make his dreams come true. Immediately, the book, Livin’ the Drone Life, & a small Syma drone off Amazon were bought, Drone U Podcasts were binged upon, hours and hours of flight had been logged and Skeye Atlantic was established. Attending the Drone U Fly-in during the Summer of 2018 was what solidified for Izzy that he was truly on the right path to pursuing a new career. Combining his passions of RC cars, technology, and helping people while making a living was already a Dream come true.

The comradery of the Motorcycle community was, by far, one of Izzy’s favorite aspects about riding. At the Drone U Fly-in, the realization that this also existed in the Drone community was very exciting. While pushing his brand new OJI Phantom 4 V2 to the limits at the Fly-in, people were recognizing his capabilities which led him to winning the Thermography station with Jon McBride and being a top contender for the timed Obstacle Course flight. For Izzy, this experience was priceless and the idea of becoming a trainer and working with Drone U one day was born. As of Fall of 2022, Izzy has accomplished another Goal of his and is now a Drone U Elite Pilot. He is now a father of 3 and performs all sorts of drone jobs, predominantly in the NE, consisting of everything from Commercial Real Estate work, Wedding videography, Inspections, and Mapping & Modeling. His first commercial jobs include work for Dunkin’ Donuts, Adidas, & Kohl’s spread out all over from Maine to Virginia. He has had the privilege of flying his drone in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, & Panama and looks forward to adding more countries to that list. 360/ 3D Capture using Matterport cameras is another area of expertise for Izzy which gives him the opportunity to travel and enjoy more of his passions including meeting awesome people and finding good food. Over the last year Izzy has earned his L1 Thermography Certificate and improved his Mapping and 3D Modeling skills. Using his skillset, during the Summer of 2022, he assisted in Grant Research work for Emergency Responders focusing on utilizing 3D Toolsets combining various imagery from terrestrial and aerial imagery exponentially increasing the value in how this data can be used to save lives, plan for, and potentially prevent crisis situations. Izzy says that “Drones are his destiny” and there is a reason why he is in this space.