Kelvin King
Alpha Aviation and Alpha Drones
Kelvin King, founder and CEO of Alpha Aviation and Alpha Drones USA, grew up dreaming of becoming an airline pilot. The son of Guyanese and Panamanian migrants, he began pursuing aviation as a career at Aviation High School in Queens, earning maintenance licenses.
After graduating from college and from ATP Flight School, the school offered him a job as a flight instructor. He then rose through the ranks to becoming Chief Pilot, the first African-American to reach that position. In 2019, he left ATP to start Alpha Aviation, which operates a flight school, drone operator certification programs, and a commercial drone business, Alpha Drones USA.
While the pandemic was a challenge, he quickly established virtual programming for the flight school and used financing from Accompany Capital to expand his thriving drone business.
Kelvin, who is also a United Airlines pilot, is committed to helping under-privileged and marginalized students to become airline pilots with his non-profit program: the Alpha Aviation Professional Development Program.