AggieAir Employee Spotlight Nate Schwemmer

Our latest AggieAir Spotlight is Nate Schwemmer, our Lead Pilot and Mechanical Engineer. Nate is Mechanical Engineering major, with an Aerospace Emphasis. He is set to graduate May 2024. As Lead Pilot, his main responsibility is to safely execute drone flight missions. This includes creating precise flight plans, obtaining permission to fly from the FAA, prepping aircraft, and, of course, flying the aircraft in the field.

When not executing missions, Nate often finds himself hands deep in an aircraft working an avionics board, electrical wiring, payloads, or physical airframes. He also designs and manufactures hardware that improves the performance of the aircraft, such as payload mounts, antenna direction optimization mounts, and sensor hardware.

When asked about his experiences working at AggieAir, Nate replies: “What I enjoy most about my work is the satisfaction I get from finding a problem with an aircraft, engineering a solution, then watching the aircraft successfully fly a mission. I also enjoy being a critical part of research that helps solve real world problems such as figuring out the most efficient use of water for farm plots where water is becoming more and more scarce. Lastly, I enjoy traveling to new places and getting out into nature.”