BASIL YAP

Partner, Business & Technical Specialist

Basil is nationally recognized as an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and advanced air mobility (AAM) leader, consultant, and engineer with over 15 years of experience in aviation. He served as UAS Program Manager for NCDOT where he Led creation of the North Carolina Department of  Transportation’s nation-leading and award-winning   Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program from 2016   through July 2020. During his tenure, he Led development   of the first concept of operation for a statewide unmanned   traffic management system presented to the Federal Aviation Administration to expand UAS  operations in North Carolina, and managed the North Carolina Department of  Transportation’s participation in the Federal Aviation Administration’s three-year UAS  Integration Pilot Program, which completed more UAS missions and achieved more national  firsts than any of the other nine teams selected for the program. 

Basil is a founding member and President of AeroX, a non-profit focused on building an  AAM ecosystem in North Carolina. AeroX was recently awarded $5 million from the state  legislature to build a UAS Traffic Management system in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

Basil served as Vice President of Hovecon Consulting, which provided subject matter  expertise and program development for emerging aviation technologies. He is also an  appointee to NASA’s Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable, whose mission is  to define and explore critical issues related to the nation’s aeronautics research agenda  including UAS, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) technology and Urban Air  Mobility. Basil was also recently appointed to the Smith Reynold’s Airport Board.  

Basil holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University and  lives with his family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.