Hometown: SF Bay Area
Passion: Drones

Although drones have been around since World War II, their widespread application only began to skyrocket in the year 1999— which, coincidentally, is the year that Jack McCandless was born.

Young though he may be, Jack is quickly becoming one of the country’s most well-known experts in the world of drone technology. A San Francisco Bay Area native with a talent for technology and a passion for flight, Jack is a First-Person View (FPV) expert and educator who has shared his drone knowledge with thousands of students across the country— gaining a reputation as an innovator and problem solver throughout the drone industry.

“When I was a kid, I really loved to build things. In third grade, I built a model rocket. Then I got into robots— things like that. I only became interested in drones when smartphone technology put their operation within the reach of the general public. All of a sudden, all you needed to pilot a quadcopter drone was an app and a Wi-Fi or bluetooth connection. It was pretty amazing.”

In August of 2019, during the wildfires in northern California, Jack assisted the Menlo Park Fire Department (MPFD) by helping to integrate drone technology— including a fleet of fourteen DJI drones of various sizes and capabilities— into the fire response process. Outfitting a drone with cameras gives firefighters a good idea of the scope of a fire and the damage it has caused to the surrounding area.

In this capacity, said his MPFD supervisors, Jack had an intuitive ability for getting the drones to cooperate and interconnect with other firefighting and search-and-rescue technologies. He also fabricated custom accessories for the fire department’s drones from his home workshop, adding mounts for devices like gas meters and Geiger counters. Jack is currently testing a mechanism that could throw life preservers or lifelines during water rescues.

Jack will be joining SPIRE’s Camp and Academy programs as a guest lecturer in drone racing and Mechatronics.