James Thomas

James Thomas is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Radical, an aerospace technology startup currently based in Seattle, Washington. Backed by Y Combinator as a participant in the accelerator's Winter 2023 batch, the company develops high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft engineered specifically for continuous stratospheric flight. These zero-emissions unmanned aerial vehicles function as persistent, long-endurance platforms designed to provide global telecommunications connectivity and high-resolution earth observation capabilities without requiring frequent landings. Prior to establishing Radical, Thomas spent six years working as an aerospace engineer at Amazon Prime Air. During his tenure at the logistics corporation, he specialized in aerodynamics and advanced aircraft design for their autonomous delivery drone fleet. His current professional focus centers on scaling clean energy aviation technology and advancing stratospheric drone platforms to deliver sustainable infrastructure solutions for global commercial markets.