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Back 41 was started in 2024 to provide Public Safety/First Responders that are injured on duty, a way to get Back In Service. Our goal is to give them another option to serve the agency and community they signed up for. We provide them drones, training and tools that allow them to support their agencies and get Back In Service.
The idea of Back 41 started in 2018. Chris Hurst, a retired Tech Exec met John Buell, the Senior Officer setting up the Drone and Robotics Program for Austin PD. Drones are increasingly being used to assist Public Safety/First Responders giving them “eyes in the sky” to improve situational awareness. Chris and his wife donated the first 2 drones and John built out a very successful drone operation flying and managing over 4000 drone flights providing overwatch for events, disaster response, search and rescue, crime scene reconstruction and rolling out on over 300 SWAT call outs.
Like many Public Safety/First Responders, John had a side job running one of the premiere Public Safety training operations in the US, Drone Pilot Inc. He and some experienced drone operators built a training program to teach PS/FRs how to stand up and operate drone programs for their agencies. DPI’s 100 Hour training program mixes in-person and self paced training to truly prepare these teams to operate safely and help improve Public Safety Outcomes. Along the way he met up with a couple of motorcycle officers that had been injured on duty. One was a Bexar County Sheriff Officer and one was with Austin Police Dept.
Art Garcia and Dave Erskine both were able to return to their agencies as drone operators and were able to continue supporting their teams and communities. That was the idea for Back 41. But it was at the Memorial Service last November for a fallen Officer that was the catalyst to make it happen. With a lot of help and support, we put our first pilot through the training program on May 9, 2024. We’ve built a great team and look forward to helping those that get up every day to Protect and Serve us and our communities.