Latest news with #JohnEberhardt
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Drone814 partners: Johnstown test run 'just the beginning'
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Moments after John Eberhardt fell to the turf Friday at Trojan Stadium, a drone was hovering overhead to lower medical supplies. It was just a drill. But Eberhardt, the managing director for ATA Aviation, and other partners in the Drone814 initiative hope the scenario will be saving lives statewide and creating jobs in the years ahead. ATA Aviation, Aerium, and Virginia-based DroneUp deployed a trial run of their Drone814 concept at Greater Johnstown High School – in front of the school-aged audience they hope will be piloting and maintaining those drones one day soon. The test run signals upcoming live trials this summer that will see remote medical drone operators work with 911 dispatchers to deliver Narcan, EpiPens and other supplies to real-life emergency scenes across Greater Johnstown. "This first demonstration is just the beginning," Aerium Executive Director Glenn Ponas told a crowd of approximately 60 students, educators and emergency responders Friday. "Not only can these drones save lives ... but drones can be a key part of any (career) field," he said. "It's going to allow people to make a living with drones, and we're going to do it right here in Johnstown." Building a workforce The Drone814 initiative has been underway for several years through a partnership between Aerium, the Cambria County Department of Emergency Services, the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission, and companies in the drone industry. The aim is to show that dispatching medical drones to certain emergency scenes can lead to faster treatment, quicker recovery times and lower medical costs while creating local jobs, project partners have said. Greater Johnstown School District Superintendent Amy Arcurio announced Friday that Greater Johnstown students will be able to pursue that career path this fall – and obtain a drone operator's certificate by the conclusion of the 2025-26 school year. Teens are already passionate about drone technology, and over just one school year, they'll be able to graduate with the training needed to find well-paying jobs that support Johnstown's burgeoning aviation industry, she said. "The sky isn't just the limit – it's just the beginning," Arcurio said. Ponas said Aerium's efforts with Greater Johnstown and other partners will enable that workforce to grow quickly and attract companies to Cambria County. Eberhardt can attest to that. Demonstration, driving growth Eberhardt is already moving his small Virginia business to a space inside Nulton Aviation Services in Richland Township. As Drone814 and a regional operation network launches in Cambria and Somerset counties, it will create opportunities for more drone-related enterprises, he said. They illustrated the concept on a small scale Friday, using a mock phone call to 911 to deploy a drone from Greater Johnstown's parking lot into an end zone on Trojan Stadium's football field. How Drone814's medical deliveries would work A medical supply delivery demonstration is conducted by Drone814 at Greater Johnstown High School. A drone operator worked quietly from a truck nearby as the buzzing drone dropped off its package, which contained color-coded boxes of supplies for different emergencies. The kit – not much bigger than a lunchbox – was lowered onto the field with a cable. Now, project partners have to show the world the method works from miles away. Through a more than $1 million test phase and federal airspace approval, Ponas said, medical drone flights will make history next month when operators start testing them outside their line of sight. Given the fact that every second counts, Drone814 wlll save lives, said state Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, noting that rural locations and rugged Cambria County terrain can often pose challenges for local ambulance responders. Deliveries this summer won't just provide medical aid. Data reports from each flight will track response times and patient outcomes to enable Drone814 to make its case to the nation – and to Medicare – that the concept is a worthy one, project partners said. Support for responders Drone814 partners plan to work with the county and Conemaugh Health System to compile that data and see how the cost to provide care and recovery rates compare to traditional methods. But during a question-and-answer session with the public Friday, Eberhart and Ponas stressed that the medical drone deployment won't take the place of ambulance dispatches. They'll only support them, Eberhart added. When county 911 dispatchers take an emergency call, they will follow the same state-approved questioning scripts they already use to diagnose the nature of an emergency. If the incident involves a possible overdose, cardiac event or traumatic bleed, for example, they'll continue to dispatch the nearest available ambulance while also contacting DroneUp pilots to deploy a drone, Eberhart said. County dispatchers are already trained to walk callers through stressful emergency scenarios and to locate and use medical devices such as the opioid overdose-reversing medication Narcan, a tourniquet or a defibrillator, said Eberhardt. The only difference is that it will be a drone lowering a package of supplies from the skies, he said. Next steps, 'big deal' Drone814 partners said they'll be spending the coming weeks preparing for their real-life trial runs. County dispatchers will receive training in June, and Drone814 partners will gather feedback from them to help fine-tune the partnership before installing additional training, they said. Sensors working in tandem with drone software will need to be installed across the city of Johnstown, Ferndale, East Conemaugh and the West Hills, ATA Aviation officials said. If results from this summer's test phase support their efforts, a second, expanded phase in the region would follow in 2026, Eberhardt added. "The plan is to listen to stakeholders" and learn from each step in the process, said DroneUp Vice President of Business Development Greg James. "We're going to improve as we go." Burns and Cambria County Commissioner Thomas Chernisky praised the initiative and its sky-high potential for the region. "This isn't some pie-in-the-sky idea," Burns said at the event. "This is going to be a big deal for (Greater Johnstown)." "This project is about more than drones," Chernisky told The Tribune-Democrat following the demonstration. "It's about investing in our people, preparing for the future and showing what's possible when public safety, education and innovation come together."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Aerium Summit looks to bridge workforce gap in aviation industry
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — The 2025 Aerium Summit in Johnstown is bringing aviation and government leaders together to bridge the gap in the aviation workforce. 'PennDOT, FAA personnel, leaders in aerospace and aviation, leaders in education. This actually is a world-class group of people right here in Johnstown,' John Eberhardt, Managing Director of ATA Aviation, said. The summit is taking place at the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. Leon Haynes, III, is a Board Member for Aerium and the Founding CEO of Hosanna House. He spoke with WTAJ about the state of workforce development. 'When I think about workforce development, I think about all the areas, whether there's a shortage of pilots or whether it's a shortage of traffic control, maintenance, all of the things that we're saying, what are the things that are going to keep the industry moving. And so people who are aging out of that industry, too, as well,' Haynes said. Cambria County celebrates success of mental health treatment court That's where programs like the one the AOPA Foundation has come in. AOPA stands for Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. They give students the tools they need to succeed in the industry. 'Two rural communities, in fact, rural communities, have really embraced this program. We wanted to create it to make sure that there were opportunities for folks who might not otherwise have them. And so we made the program completely free, and that has made it really appealing to schools and smaller districts,' Elizabeth Tennyson, Senior Vice President at AOPA Foundation and Programs, said. The Summit includes information about new initiatives like the one launching in Cambria County next week. 'We're actually right on schedule. So next week, the week of June 2nd, we're going to be conducting test flights in Westmont and Southmont. So if you see a drone with medical supplies, don't panic. It's us. And then we're going to use that information to finalize any procedures to get the rest of the sensors installed and be up and flying in July and August,' Eberhardt said. The Aerium Summit ends on Thursday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Medical drone initiative trials set for summer in Johnstown area
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – An initiative using aerial drones to deliver defibrillators, EpiPens and other medical supplies to local emergency scenes has been cleared for a test run. Drone814 partners plan to begin airlifting supplies across Greater Johnstown this summer through medical drone trials – in a bid to show the world that the effort can save lives and medical costs, ATA Aviation Managing Director John Eberhardt said. Drone814 deployment map The partnership called Drone814 will begin coordinating aerial drone deliveries of medical supplies this summer across part of the Greater Johnstown area. From there, the sky's the limit, with the group hopeful the effort will also deliver high-salary jobs in the area, he said. The launch signals 'a new era of high-tech emergency response' that will expand across the state if the Johnstown pilot project proves successful, Aerium Chairman Larry Nulton said. 'This initiative doesn't just push the boundaries of what's possible in emergency response; it opens new doors for our local workforce and sets the tone for how technology and community impact can go hand-in-hand,' he said. Virginia-based ATA Aviation, which is in the process of opening a three-employee office in Richland Township, is working with Richland Township-based aviation nonprofit Aerium, the Cambria County Department of Emergency Services and the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission on the project. ATA Aviation is implementing the operational "software" framework for the multi-modal mobility project. 'Pilot' phase According to Eberhardt, preliminary systems tests will start in June, including "mock deliveries" designed to ensure that the drones – and their safety procedures – are operating properly before they are dispatched to accident and emergency scenes. Aerial drones about the size of a Weber barbecue grill will be equipped to carry the supplies and be operated remotely by licensed "pilots" from a site at the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Richland Township. The goal is to start deploying them for live medical delivery "trials" over two separate periods in July and August, he said. "During that period, if someone calls 911 and reports an incident the medical drones (can support) in Greater Johnstown, they'll be dispatched in addition to local ambulance services," Eberhardt said. The goal is to track how quickly life-saving aid can be delivered to the scene by aerial drone, compared to by ambulance. And Drone814 will also track data on the medical side to outline the savings that faster responses mean – not just in terms of lives, but also projected savings through faster treatment and recovery times, he added. "When it comes to cardiac arrest, or a bleed, or an overdose, it's proven that the faster you provide (essential aid) the less time someone is in the hospital, the less therapy they might need afterward," Eberhardt said. Drone814 partners will handle the test runs, with the goal of getting funding – and the official clearance – to begin making drone response a 24/7 operation in Johnstown, he added. The Drone814 program received U.S. Department of Transportation approval to use the airspace over most of Johnstown, Ferndale, East Conemaugh and the West Hills this summer to deliver 'critical' supplies to accident and emergency scenes. The trial project was funded in 2024 by a $2 million federal grant, enabling Cambria County officials to install a network of drone-specific radio sensors across the county. It was a necessary step to avoid signal interference with other air traffic, while also permitting drone operators to legally fly the devices outside their line of sight, officials said at the time. Rural response When emergency officials are alerted about a cardiac arrest, aerial drones would have a clear, direct path to the scene to drop off an AED device. If an overdose is reported, Narcan spray could be delivered just as quickly to a caller at the scene – likely before an ambulance or fire crew arrives. Eberhardt said boxes with color-coded compartments will be loaded within the drone's supplies, enabling a 911 dispatcher to instruct a caller on which one to open, depending on the type of medical emergency. "Once the drone lands and delivers the supplies, it won't be any different than a typical emergency call," Eberhardt said, adding that 911 telecommunicators often find themselves instructing people how to render aid until ambulance paramedics arrive. Those "seconds count" when someone is suffering from a cardiac arrest, said Johnstown fire Chief Bob Statler, who praised the initiative. He said the new technology will likely have a big impact in remote areas of the region. 'Because of the call volume, Johnstown is a great place to (test) this project,' said Statler, 'but I think it's going to be the rural areas, locally and all over the U.S., that will really benefit. There are areas in Somerset and Bedford counties where the nearest ambulance might be 30 minutes away.' Job creator Aerium and its partners, including St. Francis University, have launched drone aviation programs in recent years to cultivate a workforce of drone pilots locally. Drone814's operations and anticipated growth will fuel a need for local talent, officials said. Eberhardt said the initiative will need Federal Aviation Administration-certified drone pilots, mechanics to keep the unmanned aircraft running as designed. Staff will also be needed to load supplies onto the remote aircraft if the program gets the clearance to go full-time. He said certified drone pilots earn salaries of $75,000 to $150,000 annually, so "these will be great local jobs." And the need for those jobs would only multiple as the effort expanded into neighboring counties, he added. Somerset County is already taking steps to become part of an expanded drone network once the testing phase is completed. Last week, the Somerset County commissioners approved an $18,000 contract with the SAPDC to enable the program to move into the northern part of Somerset County.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Nonprofit partners with Drone814 to save lives in Central PA
CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — Nearly three years ago, several organizations in Cambria County devised an idea to deliver life-saving medical equipment with drones. The idea is set to become a reality by this summer. On Monday, Aerium, a nonprofit at the forefront of aviation workforce development, announced its role as a strategic partner in the Drone814 (ELSa-M3) initiative. 'Someone will call 911. If the issue matches the medical equipment on board the drone, we will dispatch the drone along with the ambulance while the ambulance is en route to you. The drone is also en route, and because the drone doesn't have to navigate traffic, worry about roads, the drone can get there in a few minutes,' John Eberhardt, Managing Director at ATA Aviation said. Local beekeeper emphasizes the importance of honeybees for the environment The 911 dispatcher will provide instructions on how to use the equipment while crews are on their way. Some equipment they're prepared to deliver is Narcan, defibrillators, tourniquets and oral glucose. Eberhardt said they need to use all the tools at their disposal to ensure that public safety services can serve people. The initial program will launch around Johnstown, Southmont and Westmont. 'We're focused there because we have to start in a small area to prove out the concept and collect the safety data to show the FAA that the program is safe,' Eberhardt noted. Test flights are expected to start the first week of June. Then more flights will come in July and August. 'We will be doing actual live delivery flights for two weeks in the middle of July and two weeks in the middle of August. And the reason for that is to collect the data that we need to go back to the FAA and get final approvals, and then also go back to the USDOT for our next round of funding so we can make this a full-time service,' Eberhardt added. The data that's collected will not include any personal information or video. Once launched, the organization is also looking to expand to Somerset, Blair, Westmoreland and Indiana Counties. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
