History Articles
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Stephen Barkley .
RATS HISTORY:
Mr. Barkley has taken a lifetime interest of remote controlled
aviation to the next level. His career started out as a very young man,
and with guidance from his dad, a pioneer and one of the leading authorities
of large-scale model aircraft in the country, Stephen at age 12 held his first
license to operate an R/C aircraft. In 1979 he was an accomplished Instrumentation
Machinist living in Ottawa's silicone valley. After relocating to Alberta
at the age of 19, Stephen was involved in the oil field industry where he
developed his first patent and received Granted status in 1985.
Never forgetting about his love for aviation he was then involved in
the Ultralight aircraft industry where he was factory trained in the manufacture
of ''ready to fly'' aircraft at three different facilities. He was also responsible
for the development of the Christianson Husky Ultralight, which included setting
up manufacturing facilities and the training of employees and clients, in
total, Stephen has produced to the point of test flight, over 35 aircraft.
With the desire to train in the ''full scale'' aviation industry as a Maintenance
Engineer, he hired on with a company in 1988 that was involved with Atmospheric
Modification, cloud seeding in particular. This company had acquired
a Challenger 600 corporate jet for the purposes of aerial reconnaissance of
ice flows throughout out the Arctic Circle, including the main Arctic Base
of Resolute Bay. The aircraft was transformed with extensive modifications
that allowed flight operations in the particularly harsh climate. This
company was a perfect environment for Steve, as he had the opportunity to
work along with a complete array of highly dedicated and talented people.
After this 3-year period, the R/C bug was biting him again and during 1990,
Stephen took the natural course and started modifying R/C aircraft for the
purposes of taking aerial photography and then video. During the next few
years success was finally starting to trickle and a number of hybrid platforms
began to emerge.
In 1993 Stephen founded Aerial Expressions, a company which first introduced
Remote Controlled Aerial Photography to the private sector. After a couple
of years, clients included everyone from government agencies and corporate
clients to real estate and private individuals. In 1997 another inventor,
and pioneer in his own right, contacted Steve with an idea. It was then, Calgary
businessman Keith Campbell and Stephen formed their present company, Rats
Inc. Stephen was once again allowed to invent, research and develop
their line of products into the company as it now stands. Rat's has
focused on the newly forming market and industry of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
With their combined focus, long term plans have withstood the test of time
and this unique partnership has been cherished and one of the finest products
developed within Canada has been the result.
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Keith Campbell.
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