Aviation Seminars

The ASOG conference consists of presentations, tours, displays and discussions led by ASOG members and guest organizations about the Airborne Sensor Operator profession & Multi-Mission Operations – sensors, new technology, non-rated aircrew topics, aircraft, and more. It allows members and the public to learn something new and network in-person in one place.

The seminars are free and open to all, but we recommend arriving in good time for each session as space can be limited.

More to be announced!

Patrick Ryan
President – Conference Moderator
ASOG Association

Patrick brings over 30 + years of experience helping government & business aviation organizations plan & execute manned & unmanned Multi-Mission operations.

Most recently, he spearheaded the start-up of the Airborne Sensor Operators Group (ASOG), write & edit articles for AV Buyer Magazine, and provides branding and operational consulting support to small and medium size aviation & aerospace firms, especially in the Aerial Work aviation sector.

Before becoming a managing director, freelance writer, and consultant, he was Director of European, Middle East, and Africa Operations at R4 Incorporated. In addition, he led operations for aerial C4ISR projects in Africa for EG&G, a leading government services company.

Other rewarding professional experiences have included being a rated field grade officer in the US Air Force. He was also the Chief of the US European Command Joint Reconnaissance Center (JRC) for Europe & Africa, standup of the first RQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK squadron as Deputy Commander & Commander. Additionally, he led numerous Joint & Coalition planning & remote-sensing flight crews for contingency operations worldwide.

Besides obtaining numerous flight ratings, he received his BS from California State University Fresno and an MA from the University of Oklahoma.

Presentation: ASOG Conference Moderator

Dr. Tobias Binkele
Sales Engineer Mission Systems
OPTIMARE Systems GmbH

Before joining OPTIMARE Systems GmbH, Dr. Tobias Binkele completed an education as a software developer. He studied Physics and Electronics Engineering before writing his Ph.D. thesis on the precise laser-based characterization of freeform optical surfaces. Tobias Binkele joined OPTIMARE in July 2021. Starting as a Software and Systems Engineer, he became a Sales Engineer Mission Systems at the beginning of 2023. He is now working in Sales and Market Management, using his experiences in Software and System Engineering to provide customers with the best airborne maritime surveillance systems solutions.

Presentation: OPTIMARE – Providing airborne maritime surveillance systems.

Mario Spiegel
Sales Manager – Europe and North America
Special Mission Aircraft Division
Diamond Aircraft

Mario has been working in the aerospace industry since he graduated from the technical college with a degree in aerospace engineering in 2005. His first employment was for a leading manufacturer of UAVs as a UAV pilot in Abu Dhabi. After one year in the Middle East, he was responsible for the factory and customer acceptance flights.

In 2008 he was hired by a governmental company in the United Arab Emirates that operate UAVs for the local Armed Forces, where he was tasked with setting up the

flight operation and training department from scratch.

After four years abroad, he returned to Austria in 2011, where he joined Austro Engine

as an After Sales employee and started supporting specific sales projects quite soon after that. From 2013 through 2018, he has been Sales Director, taking care of global sales activities of Austro Engine in both the General Aviation industry and the UAV market.

Since 2019, he has worked in the Special Mission Aircraft Department of Diamond Aircraft, caring for Special Mission Aircraft and the DART.

Presentation: Diamond Special Missions – Your Turn-key Solution – From Aircraft to Sensor to Ground-station

Jonathan Bramley
Managing Director
JD2E Ltd

Jonathan “Swaz” Bramley is the Founder and CEO of JD2E Ltd., a training and simulation company in the UK providing ISR training to various countries and companies worldwide. This includes simulators for all RAF Sensor Operators, delivering ISR flying training for UK RAF with our partner 2Excel Aviation Ltd. and training for Acoustics/ASW and Electronic Warfare to various countries.

Swaz is an ex-RAF Weapons Systems Operator, having operated in maritime and overland environments carrying out various activities from anti-drug smuggling and support to special forces and traditional anti-surface and anti-subsurface warfare. Swaz is still actively delivering training, developing simulators for customers, and running the company. He is the Vice President of the UK Chapter of the AOC, the professional institute for Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations, including EW & CEMA.

Presentation: ISR in Action: Sinking of the Moskva – How did it happen

Eric Guyot
General Manager
Telops Europe

Eric GUYOT has held several positions in infrared imaging for over twenty years, in business development and product management, notably for scientific applications and maritime surveillance.

With Telops, Eric is focusing on new civil and industrial markets using hyperspectral infrared technology such as toxic and hazardous gas leaks remote sensing.

Presentation: Revealing and Quantifying Methane Emissions Through Innovative Infrared Imaging

Andrew Fuller
International Sales Manager
RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems Gmb

Andrew Fuller is an International Sales Manager at RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems GmbH in Horn, Austria. He is responsible for airborne system sales and is also heavily involved with the training and supporting the turn-key helicopter-based systems and how the sensors can be best utilized for various applications.

Presentation: Maximizing acquisition efficiency through multi-sensor platforms

Dr. Steve Clark
C.E.O. at Cambridge Sensoriis
Cambridge Sensoriis

Dr. Steve Clark is the Founder and CEO of Cambridge Sensoriis. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering and Physics at Loughborough University and his Ph.D. at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at the University of Sydney. Steve has over 25 years of experience as a founder and entrepreneur in radar technology for industrial automation. Steve co-founded Navtech Radar in 1999, where he designed and manufactured radar solutions for the security, industrial automation, and traffic safety markets. World First systems include radar navigation for autonomous straddle carriers at Australian container ports; radar for tunnel and motorway stopped vehicle detection in the UK and internationally; and radar on autonomous iron-ore bulk carrier trains for obstacle avoidance. Steve is now designing all-weather micro-radar systems at Sensoriis to support autonomy and BVLOS flight for commercial drone services.

Presentation: Micro Radar for drone localization, navigation, and autonomy

John Goudie
CEO & Founder
SLiNK-TECH

John Goudie, CEO of SLiNK-TECH, has 13 years of experience leading cutting-edge aerospace and avionics projects—previous experience at Facebook, UTC Aerospace Systems, and several drone start-ups.

SLiNK-TECH is a Bristol, UK-based technology company developing infrastructure for the future of the flight economy. SLiNK-TECH’s automated launch and landing technology makes it easy to support drones and air-taxi operations anywhere.

Presentation: Fly PORTAL – A deployable vertiport for automated launch and landing

Phil Thornton
Chief Sensor Operator
2Excel Special Missions

Phil joined 2Excel Aviation in March 2020 as a Sensor Operator (SO). He was promoted to Chief Sensor Operator in April 2021—line Manager for 14 SOs and part of the Special Missions management team.

Trained and current on four aircraft types (PA-31 Navajo & Panther, King Air 200, and DA-62MPP) across several contracts for industry partners, government departments, and the military. Operates a wide range of mission equipment, including Gimbal turret cameras – Wescam MX-15, FLIR380HD; Trakka TC-375, Trakka OFIL ROM 400; Radar – Leonardo Osprey 30 and Diades C-Ranger 200; Nav Systems – CartNav AIMS-ISR

Additionally, Phil is a fully qualified Aviation Instructor responsible for all Sensor Operator (SO) training at 2Excell.

Presentation: 2Excell Special Operations and the multi-role sensor operator

Liz McConaghy
Motivational Speaker
Book Author – Chinook Crew Chick

Liz McConaghy was the longest-serving female crewman on the Royal Air Force Chinook Fleet, spanning a 17-year career flying on the aircraft. Originally from a small town in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, she attended R.A.F. Cranwell on her 19th birthday to begin her exciting career thereafter on Chinook Helicopters.

She was the youngest aircrew to deploy to Iraq, aged just 21, and also the only female crewman on the Chinook wing for four years, so her story is unique. Her career saw her amass two deployments to Iraq and ten deployments to Helmand, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Herrick, giving her an insightful and very personal perspective on war.

Upon leaving the RAF in 2019, Liz slowly unraveled after a series of traumatic events compounding her PTSD. This led to her trying to end her life in Aug 2020.

She survived and went into the Veterans Mental Health care system to help her deal with her demons and finally lay the images she had seen on the battlefield to rest. During this time, she began writing poetry and an autobiography to help her get her thoughts out of her head.

Chinook Crew Chick was released in Sept 2022 and went to Amazon Bestseller within three weeks. It is an honest and humorous account of her ‘best of times and worst of times and how her experiences flying on the Chinook have changed and molded her into the woman she has become. From dodging bullets to saving soldiers and witnessing the brutality and loss of war, she writes how she found herself bringing the battlefield home, despite her fighting days being over.

Liz’s story offers hope to those who have also found themselves in the darkest places and are looking for the tools within themselves to begin rebuilding a pathway to a new life. She is now an ambassador for mental health and specifically PTSD among Veterans. Liz exemplifies that PTSD does not have to be your identity. It can simply be a chapter of your life that can be learned from and, most importantly, moved on from.

Presentation: Chinook Crew Check – Life on and off the Battlefield

George DeCock
Special Mission Consultant
Airborne Technologies GmbH

For 30+ years, George has been involved in the engineering and marketing of LoS/BLoS Coms, EW, Radar, EO/IR, and ISR systems. He presently enjoys work and life as the SCAR-pod and Sensors/Mission Specialist for Airborne Technologies, concentrating on new ISR technologies and new applications of existing ones.

George focuses on developing new techniques, sensors, and customer requirements worldwide, specifically emphasizing any technology that will further enhance the capabilities of the Airborne LINX/SCAR-pod and ultimately reduce crew workload and increase mission efficiency.

He firmly believes in applying R-COTS and open-architecture software for all airborne surveillance systems. Furthermore, he is convinced that the future belongs to using small, multi-purpose aircraft and pods equipped with integrated multi-role sensors. He is working

on several programs optimizing payloads for manned and unmanned surveillance missions and will share his experience and views on new ISR capabilities for airborne platforms.

Presentations: Airborne Technologies – From airframe to surveillance platform – & – ASOG – Multi-Mission Aircraft and the Multi-Tasking Operator

Chris Pocock
Aerospace Author and Historian
U-2 Dragon Lady

Chris is a very experienced aerospace and defense journalist and editor. His career includes Aerospace Commentator, Defense Editor for Aviation International News, and many more exciting aviation editor roles. Chris is also the author of five books on intelligence-gathering aircraft – The ‘unofficial historian’ of the U-2 spy plane.

Presentation: Enduring High-Altitude Reconnaissance – The U-2 Dragon Lad

Pedro De Melo Raposo
Director Fleet Sales – EMEA
Cirrus Aircraft

Pedro holds an Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) – frozen, with Multi-Engine, Instrument, and Night ratings and is a Flight Instructor.

He graduated in Aerospace Engineering in Lisboa, and his very first job was at BAE Systems/Airbus UK as a Direct Entry Graduate. According to Pedro, working with great people on the A380 and A340-600 was a great time.

He then moved to Airbus Espana as a Programme manager on the A350XWB and did his Executive MBA at Instituto de Empresa. Later Pedro joined Aries Complex (now Aciturri) as a commercial manager, where he had his first exposure to the sales and marketing world.

The following seven years were spent with AERTEC Solutions starting in Madrid, opening offices in Portugal and the UK as Business Development Director for the Aerospace division.

At OGMA (Embraer group), He managed the complete portfolio of MRO Services for Commercial, Executive, and Defence Aviation, as well as Engines and Components worth €150M.

For a short period in 2019, as Chief Sales Officer, Pedro led the sales and marketing activities for Dornier Seawings. He then joined Oliver Wyman CAVOK consulting for Aviation and Aerospace customers.

Presentation: Cirrus Perception – Your mission solution

Peter Myers
Founder
Smith Myers Communications Ltd

Co-Founder of Smith Myers, Peter started his career as an electronics engineering apprentice with British Aerospace Guided Weapons Stevenage (Now BAe). As the team leader of the Artemis project, Peter oversees the initial specification, DO160 G, Mil-Std 810G testing, flight trials, and customer acceptance.

Smith Myers has over 35 years of experience designing cellular radio systems for network operators, military, law enforcement, and Rescue agencies. Experts in Protocol Stacks, Software Defined Radio, Digital Signal Processing, and Wideband Linear RF Power Amplifiers. Smith Myer’s innovative design of Artemis has been recognized across many industries, culminating with a silver medal from The Royal Aeronautical Society.

In addition, Artemis is used on the Norwegian AW101 All-Weather SAR Helicopter, arguably the most advanced SAR helicopter in the world, and has recently been selected for inclusion in the UK SAR2G project.

Presentation: Detect, Locate, Communicate. Using the mobile phone as a location beacon.

Jonathan Porter
Director
Metal Seagulls Ltd and Fafali Aircraft

Jonathan Porter has been working in engineering since 37 BC (Before Covid), starting at the end of the war (the Falklands War) (over 40 years). Having worked on engineering projects across a wide range of sectors (automotive, aerospace, marine, military, civilian, developmental, etc.), he has had the opportunity to learn and work throughout Europe and Africa. Jonathan is an engineer, pilot, and test pilot with over 5000 hours of flying experience in West Africa, operating low levels over the rain forest and Guinea savannah for surveillance, photo-video, agricultural and humanitarian missions.

Jonathan is a founding director of Metal Seagulls Ltd. Fafali Aircraft Ltd. Metal Seagulls is well known for their work in LAA and BMAA type aircraft (non-part 21), especially with their work on promoting and supporting Zenair aircraft kits, ULPower Aero Engines, DUC Propellers, etc.

Fafali Aircraft is unique to the team’s portfolio, designed and built in the UK. This next-gen airframe is powerplant and energy source agnostic with a high Diverse Geometry Inclusivity Index, aimed at meeting the needs of light aviation solutions for surveillance, humanitarian,

agricultural, training, and recreational aviation with several innovations that are incorporated to meet growing needs in years to come.

Presentation: Fafali Aircraft – Designing Nex-Gen Multi-Mission Light Aircraft.

TIM BRIDGE
Founder & Technical Director
NUNCATS

Tim is the resident and full-time technical guru at NUNCATS and is most likely to be found designing and building something, and he has been doing so since he was a tot. It all started innocently enough with an Airfix kit, which sparked an eclectic and varied career with one thing in common – engineering.

Tim’s working life started out with a stint at CrossAir in Basel, working on jet engines, and from there went on to roles in the Oil & Gas industry, Renewable Energy sector, and Research & Development.

He’s had the privilege to live and work in over 35 countries which, from a young age, exposed me to the vast inequality that exists in the world. Meanwhile, a degree in Meteorology & Oceanography brought into stark focus the impact humans have had on the planet. According to Tim – “What we can do, we must do, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Presentation: Skyjeeps, Solar, Survival, Skills & Social Impact