EP 116 — Carbonix's Dario Valenza On Building 10-Hour Flight Drones That Compete With Helicopters

<p>How do you build a drone that flies 10 hours, takes off without a runway, and earns the first beyond visual line of sight certification for its class? Start with a decade of America&#39;s Cup yacht racing and a fixation on making structures lighter and faster.</p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dario-valenza-a7380a23/"><u>Dario Valenza</u></a>, Founder of <a href="https://carbonix.com.au/"><u>Carbonix</u></a>, breaks down how his team applied carbon fiber composites and first principles design to build a long-range VTOL aircraft now scanning pipelines, power lines, and mine sites. With defense traction including Anduril and a fleet deployed to Ukraine, Dario explains the dual-use model driving Carbonix forward.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Topics discussed:</strong></p><p>- Applying America&#39;s Cup composites and rapid iteration to drone design</p><p>- Building a VTOL aircraft with 8-10 hour flight endurance</p><p>- Transitioning from airframe OEM to full-service data provider</p><p>- Earning a world-first SAIL III beyond visual line of sight certification</p><p>- Designing redundant VTOL systems with separate vertical and horizontal propulsion</p><p>- Scaling aircraft production from weekly to daily output</p><p>- Balancing commercial survey revenue with defense ISR applications</p><p>- Choosing build versus buy for avionics, batteries, and critical subsystems</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Listen to more episodes: </strong></p><p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dib-innovators/id1720062726"><u>Apple </u></a></p><p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5Z3PpCHsglA3uk2S6dCRBP"><u>Spotify </u></a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX2eBOnzz1SX0Psj6BmbdCw"><u>YouTube</u></a></p><p><a href="https://radicl.com/dib-innovators-podcast"><u>Website</u></a></p>