Thurling most recently served as director of product safety and mission assurance at AeroVironment, in Simi Valley, California. At AeroVironment, he led airworthiness, certification, and airspace access strategic efforts. He began his new position with NUAIR on Thursday, March 1 and leads technical research on current and future unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technologies.
Thurling will play a “critical role in the engineering and operations efforts needed to launch NUAIR’s national unmanned systems testing and rating (NUSTAR) initiative. He will support the organization’s strategic efforts to establish protocols for the formal evaluation of UAS technologies and evaluate potential paths to commercialization,” the alliance said in a news release.
“We’re very excited to welcome Andy to the NUAIR team as he has an incredible combination of knowledge and expertise, which will advance our mission and support our strategic growth,” Marke (Hoot) Gibson, president and CEO of NUAIR Alliance, said in the release. “His outstanding career in the U.S. Air Force coupled with his experience at AeroVironment gives him industry credibility key to our ability to break new ground in this ever-evolving industry.”
Thurling graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was commissioned in the Air Force in 1987. During the next decade, he served in various positions as an F-15 fighter pilot, before being selected for USAF TPS. Thurling’s career in the Air Force culminated as commander of the Flight Test Squadron responsible for testing the nation’s newest unmanned aircraft. He has more than 2,300 hours of flight time in more than 35 aircraft types.
The NUAIR Alliance is an organizational partner of CenterState CEO and manages one of seven unmanned aircraft systems test sites in the country.
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