20 For the past decade, the pace of advancement in uncrewed systems has run together with the pace at which the technology of their subsystems could be miniaturised. Going forwards, however, the rates of adoption and advancement will be increasingly tied more to the pace at which they can be certified – operations both beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and within distance of populated areas represent major untapped markets, and those whose technologies enable them to obtain waivers, special operating permits or prolonged flight clearance (or the right to self-assess and -clear for operational risk levels) more easily will become market leaders. As CCO of uAvionix, Christian Ramsey has spent much of his career at the forefront of such critical miniaturisation and certification; however, peculiarly for one known best for aviation safety systems, one of his earliest inspirations down this career path was the film Top Gun. “Although I’d long been building RC aeroplanes as a kid, seeing Top Gun in the cinema was one of two movies that really accelerated my technical interests; the other was Short Circuit, about a military robot who becomes self-aware,” Ramsey muses. Although one may draw a connection with his future interest in autonomous systems from the latter blockbuster, Ramsey’s entrance onto the stage of uncrewed systems would take a little longer than his entry into aviation. After initially being unable to join the US Air Force academy (owing to his sub-20/20 vision), he instead pursued a computer science approach, achieving a Bachelor’s degree in that subject as well as a private pilot’s license while attending university in the mid-90s. “Those two passions came together post-college, when I started working for a company that built flight simulators for crewed flight training devices,” Ramsey recounts. “From that, I gained a lot of sim time in things like B-52s, AV-8 Harriers, 737s and a lot of helicopters. It made for a really fun and eye-opening 15 years or so of career progression, from software engineer up through program management, business development and things like that.” After achieving his Masters in Executive Management in 2010, he sought a new direction and went to work for another company that at the time was called ITT. Over two years, however, it was spun-off and renamed and merged into Harris [later L3Harris], which was Rory Jackson sits down with the chief commercial officer of uAvionix to learn what it takes to fit UAVs safely alongside crewed aircraft in visible (and beyond visible) skies Certified fresh August/September 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Over the past decade, Christian Ramsey has guided and participated in uAvionix’s innovations for aviation safety across UAVs, GA and ground infrastructure (All images courtesy of uAvionix)
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