John Harvey is a hardware-first aerospace developer with a multi-decade track record of advancing aircraft and mechanical systems from clean-sheet concept through fabrication, testing, and flight validation. He founded Erospace Technologies Inc. in 1989 and designed and built the Darling experimental aircraft in 14 weeks, later flying it for more than 200 hours while achieving performance within approximately 5% of predicted targets.
That aircraft formed the basis for the Aurora twin-engine configuration, which generated strong early customer and investor interest at Oshkosh before development was paused due to propulsion availability constraints rather than technical feasibility.
Earlier in his career, John contributed to prototype development at Bombardier’s Sea-Doo R&D startup and supported experimental aircraft programs including Velocity Aircraft, Stewart Aviation, LoPresti Speed Merchants and Revelaero, along with aerodynamic wind-tunnel consultation and test articles used in Yamaha factory racing programs. He also designed automated production machinery with Automated Applications for companies such as Rain Bird, Ford, and Molex among a few.
He is currently founder of UAP Systems and lead developer of the Mélange general aviation aircraft platform, a next-generation configuration designed to combine aerodynamic efficiency, manufacturability, and MOSAIC-aligned certification strategy within the owner-operator transport category.

UAP Systems is disrupting the $1B premium personal aircraft market — currently dominated by a 69% incumbent monopoly — with Mélange, the world’s first “Wide-Body Personal Aircraft,” utilizing blended-wing-body (BWB) architecture. While legacy manufacturers remain trapped in a 60-year design stagnation, Mélange delivers SUV-level cabin comfort, a lower internal noise signature, improved stall-spin-resistant safety, and modern efficiency through the MOSAIC / ASTM certification pathway. Guaranteed access to a mature fully equipped 4,000 sq ft CNC/Composite shop is already in place and ready for demonstrator construction.

Our aerodynamic architecture is being de-risked through iterative scale flight testing, and the cabin concept was validated as a “game-changer” by the Oshkosh 2025 community and Barnaby S. Wainfan, Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow. Led by DARLING program veteran John Harvey and supported by Scott Haynes, former Lockheed C-130J program leader, UAP Systems is executing a staged seed raise: an initial $750K SAFE for a 28-month sprint to full-scale demonstrator flight, followed by the rollout of a vertically integrated Micro-factory in North Georgia. The company’s scaling goal is $100M+ in annual revenue by Year 7.