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The origins of Georgia GEO LLC are rooted in the tobacco fields of eastern North Carolina, the soybean fields around Beebe, Arkansas, and the mountains of western North Carolina. The many sultry summer mornings I spent stooped over cropping wet tobacco were traded off for the hot and dusty soybean fields of Arkansas. What I traded off in labor at a relatively small tobacco farm, I made up for in sheer volume of discing and planting thousands of acres of soybeans. I’ve learned from some great men (Mr. Savage and Mr. Casteen) what it takes to run a profitable farm. So many things have changed, some for the better, others, not so much.
A 4-year tour in the US Air Force provided me the opportunity to pursue a Private Pilot’s license courtesy of the base Flying Club. I had envisioned following the paths of my four uncles who, in WWII, flew in the Marine Corps and Army Air Corps and earn wings of my own. Alas, factors combined to prevent the realization of that dream.
No matter, because after the USAF, I went up to the mountains of North Carolina in pursuit of a Science and Math Education Degree at Appalachian State University in Boone. In the midst of those studies, I began building and flying Radio Controlled (RC) gliders. Hang gliding (another story for another day) in the NC mountains and flying RC gliders from the Blue Ridge Parkway became the next-best alternatives to a pilot’s license, and much cheaper. 25 years later, I’m still actively involved in flying and still at the controls of my RC models. I’ve flown just about every conceivable type of fixed and rotary wing full-scale and RC aircraft (except for jets, free balloons and blimps)
Despite having invested time earning a Science Education degree with a Math/Social Studies double minor and having been tenured in the NC Public School System, I longed to have my hands on airplanes once again. I left the Education field and enrolled in the Aviation Technology Program at Greenville Technical College in Greenville, SC. I excelled there, earned my FAA Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanic’s license, and was even invited back after graduation (due to my Education background) to teach evening classes at the college. I did so and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of teaching students who were goal-driven. I had already, in the midst of my Aviation Technician academic career, gained full-time employment with Lockheed Martin at the military aircraft Maintenance Depot there in Greenville and worked two full-time aviation jobs.
2018 was the beginning of my 11th year of traveling to many austere overseas locations,
performing maintenance and providing operational support to the fleet of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA’s or “drones”) operated by the US Air Force: the MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper. I’m back to having my hands on my RC airplanes, only this time, they’re a bit bigger.
My wife, Christine, (a Master Gardener) and I moved to Kathleen in 2008 with the expectation of working once again at an aircraft Maintenance Depot while between deployments overseas. We love Middle Georgia and I once again find my self in the middle of farm country…………where I belong.
I had, in the last few years, been reading with intense interest of the proliferation of what the FAA termed the “small Unmanned Aerial System” (sUAS) being used to great effect in all iterations of aerial information-gathering applications. I, as well as industry analysts, am seeing the increased use of the sUAS in Precision Agriculture and am convinced that this application of the sUAS has the potential to grow by orders of magnitude in the coming few years. A more significant opportunity for the farmer I would be hard-pressed to imagine.
I was one of the early recipients of an FAA Remote (drone) Pilot License under the FAA Part 107 Regulations (14CFR107) and now seek to put that certification to good use.
Considering a consuming passion for all things that fly, knowledge of the National Airspace System, the aeronautical knowledge to conduct flight competently, safely and in accordance with current FAA Regulations, possession of the 14CFR107 credentials which enable me to fly as a Remote Pilot, the depth of my scientific and technical experience, an excitement for introducing people to the benefits of new and extraordinary technology, 25 years’ worth of experience piloting fixed and rotary-wing RC aircraft, and an abiding love and respect for the farm and farmer, we have formed Georgia GEO LLC. We embark on a venture (and adventure) to provide Precision Agriculture services (and other services) to that segment of society working hardest, for the least appreciation, in the service to others.
We welcome the opportunity to help make your farm as profitable as it can be.
We are long-time members of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) and good Lutherans.