John Cornelius — Founder & Chief Pilot, Sentry AI Thermal

I spent 20 years in the Army. Infantry, then a long time flying Black Hawks in places I can't always talk about. When I got out, I went deep on AI and drones. This company is what that looks like put together.

— John Cornelius, Founder & Chief Pilot
20-Year U.S. Army Veteran
UH-60 Black Hawk Pilot — 3,000+ Flight Hours
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers)
M.S. Unmanned Systems — Embry-Riddle
FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate

BACKGROUND

2002–2022

U.S. ARMY

Infantry. Airborne. 15 years flying UH-60 Black Hawks. Instructor Pilot. Multiple combat deployments. Retired honorably.

2020

EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY

B.S. Aeronautics. M.S. Unmanned Systems — Human Factors. Applied AI coursework via Harvard CS50 AI and CS50x.

2022

AI & SIX SIGMA LEAD — MANUFACTURING

Leading AI implementation and process optimization across 9 manufacturing plants. PMP, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Agile Scrum Master. I understand industrial operations from the inside.

2025

SENTRY AI THERMAL FOUNDED

Thermal drone inspection with custom AI defect detection. FAA Part 107 certified. Serving WV, MD, and VA.

CERTIFICATIONS & EDUCATION

FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate
M.S. Unmanned Systems — Human Factors — Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
B.S. Aeronautics — Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

MISSION-READY HARDWARE

RADIOMETRIC THERMAL DRONE

Enterprise-grade thermal imaging platform with calibrated temperature measurement. Captures both visual and thermal data simultaneously for precise anomaly localization.

CUSTOM AI PIPELINE

Purpose-built detection system. MediaMTX for stream ingestion, OpenCV for image processing, and YOLOv8-nano for real-time thermal anomaly detection and classification.

0 Years Army Service
0 Flight Hours (UH-60)
Part 107 FAA Certified Pilot

READY TO WORK WITH A VETERAN-OWNED TEAM?

Military precision. AI intelligence. Local service.

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