EMMU Aerial’s Managing Director Dave Crago Flies Above the Crowd

After more than 15 years in business and a major reorganization in 2006, Dave serves as EMMU Aerial’s Managing Director, providing leadership and direction for the company and the companies uunmanned aircraft systems (UAS), public safety programs, aerial photography, remote sensing, training, products and services.

Dave a lifelong Waterman and water rescue professional originally established EMMU or Emergency Mobile Mapping Unit after a merge with his other company Special Aquatic Service (SAS) in 1998 to meet an industry need for a specialized group qualified to responding to a public safety need for a true mobile emergency GIS response capability.  Drawing from years’ of water rescue, aviation, forestry, search and rescue and firefighting experience.  Dave was able to assemble a group of emergency response, GIS and aerial remote sensing professionals that was unsurpassed in the public safety industry.  EMMU went on to be a leader in the training and support of wildland firefighter, first responders and search and rescue professionals. 

Dave quickly learned that the opportunities for mobile GIS systems did not end with the limits of your imagination. While ideal for emergency management, the mobile GIS systems proved just as valuable for private, corporate and industrial research where onsite mapping technologies saved time and cut costs considerably.  It was also at this time, that EMMU established themselves as a leader in georeferenced oblique aerial photography, providing invaluable and accurate geographical information and imagery for various government agencies.

Today, Dave is an FAA licensed Part 107 UAS and federal government remote pilot and brings extensive knowledge of FAA and other federal, state and local drone regulations and protocols to the company.  Dave developed his skills through extensive operational aerial photography, remote sensing and UAS surveillance work with the military and government agencies. From these beginnings with government systems, EMMU Aerial now provides public safety agencies and organization with specialized UAS training, services and consulting for search and rescue, law enforcement, firefighting, disaster response and more throughout North America.  EMMU Aerial is at the forefront of a technological and operational change, focused on reinventing the way we work and look at the world.