Israeli Drone Company Trains 1,000 Pilots Yearly for New Sky

The future of aviation isn't just about building better aircraft. It's about teaching people how to use them.

Propeller Drones took an unusual path when founders Itamar Kohali and Tal Yadin launched the company in 2020. Instead of manufacturing drones like everyone else in Israel's booming tech sector, they focused on something simpler but more essential: helping organizations actually operate the technology.

"The technology already exists," Kohali told The Jerusalem Post. "But if you don't know how to use it, it's useless."

The two met during a 2018 border security project when Yadin was serving as a quadcopter operator in combat intelligence. They reunited during COVID-19 as commercial drone adoption accelerated worldwide and spotted a gap nobody else was filling.

Today, their company employs 80 people and trains over 1,000 drone operators annually at their central Israel academy. Customers range from the Israeli Defense Forces and Magen David Adom to major defense contractors like Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.

The company also partnered with Mercaz Kivun to introduce ultra-Orthodox men to drone careers. "We see ourselves as a gate for haredim," Kohali said, opening pathways into high-tech industries that have traditionally excluded these communities.

Beyond training, Propeller Drones conducts aerial mapping and infrastructure inspections. One practical application involves using thermal cameras to inspect solar installations and generate annual regulatory reports for clients.

Their newest venture, Autodrone, deploys autonomous "drone-in-a-box" systems for continuous operations like site security and infrastructure monitoring. About a dozen systems already operate across Israel, with plans to expand to 300 installations by 2029.

The Ripple Effect

The company's growth reflects a broader shift in how industries adopt transformative technology. Propeller Drones has doubled in size every year since founding, not by inventing new hardware but by solving the operational challenges that prevent brilliant inventions from reaching their potential.

Their work supporting Israel's National Drone Initiative is helping pave the way for routine urban drone flights. As regulatory and safety frameworks develop, the low-altitude aviation revolution Kohali envisions could reshape everything from security to logistics.

The company plans international expansion soon, exporting not aircraft but the operational expertise Israel has developed. They're proving that sometimes the most innovative contribution isn't building something new but teaching others how to use what already exists.

In an industry obsessed with the next technological breakthrough, Propeller Drones found success by asking a different question: what good is innovation if nobody can operate it?