OKLAHOMA CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–JD Claridge admits he has always had an affinity for things that flew. After all, he was just seven years old and living in northern Idaho when he attempted to build his first aircraft: a glider made out of duct tape and rebar he got out of his barn.
“The glider weighed about 100 pounds and really had no chance to get off the ground. So, I convinced my best friend to be the first to fly it,” he recalled.
“We strapped my dad’s oversized motorcycle helmet on him and he ran down this gigantic sledding hill and leaped off this box I had constructed to give him more lift. He hit the ground and the glider just buckled underneath him,” Claridge chuckled.
Aside from an injured chin and a few other body parts, Claridge said his best friend survived the crash but they both learned something that day.
“It’s all about the process,” Claridge said. That belief has also carried over into his adult life as co-founder of xCraft, a drone company located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, that develops innovative vehicles for the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) industry, including its flagship product, the hybrid X PlusOne, the PhoneDrone Ethos and its most recent offering, the x2 Geo.
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