Alumni/ae

In 2019, Hector (Haofeng) Xu, a PhD student from MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, decided to learn to fly helicopters, aiming to improve their safety. Two years later, he founded Rotor Technologies, Inc., an autonomous helicopter company addressing the risks that many pilots face, especially those involving small, private aircraft in the United States. Rotor…

In 2019, Haofeng (Hector) Xu, a PhD student at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, began learning to fly helicopters. His experiences with various risks in the cockpit led to his motivation to make helicopter flight safer. Subsequently, in 2021, he established Rotor Technologies, Inc. This autonomous helicopter company aims to retrofit existing helicopters with…

In late 2019, Hector (Haofeng) Xu, whilst pursuing his PhD in MIT’s aeronautics and astronautics department, took to learning to fly helicopters. After some near misses, he was inspired to make helicopter flight safer. This would be the foundation for his autonomous helicopter company, Rotor Technologies, Inc., established in 2021. The aim was to mitigate…

In 2021, Haofeng (Hector) Xu, a student well-versed in aviation and aerospace engineering, established Rotor Technologies Inc., an autonomous helicopter company. This decision rooted from his personal experiences in flying helicopters along with the realization of the life risks pilots undertake daily in the US while operating small aircraft, many of which result in fatalities.…

In 2019, Hector (Haofeng) Xu, a PhD student at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, decided to learn to fly helicopters. After experiencing the hazards of flying small aircraft firsthand, he was motivated to enhance helicopter flight safety. In 2021, he elevated his strong passion for aeronautical safety and started his own autonomous helicopter company…

Hector (Haofeng) Xu, after years of studying aviation and aerospace engineering, elected to develop a safer form of helicopter flight following several nerve-wracking experiences in the air. In 2021, he formed Rotor Technologies, Inc., an autonomous helicopter firm dedicated to making the routine missions of small aircraft safer through advanced technology. The company retrofits existing…

In 2019, Haofeng (Hector) Xu, a Ph.D. candidate at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, started learning to fly helicopters; a journey that inspired him to enhance the safety of helicopter flight. By 2021, he had founded an autonomous helicopter company called Rotor Technologies, Inc. Rotor Technologies aims to reduce the fatalities that occur in…