How it works · Running a PAO

What it takes to run a Public Aircraft Operation — and how Akute OS carries it.

A Public Aircraft Operation is real work: standards, safety cases, operational control, training, and dispatch. Akute develops the program with your agency and runs it on Akute OS — aviation program development, operational controls, and the software that coordinates every asset across a single mission — so you can build this into your own organization, with our support.

What Akute operates

One layer. Three jobs.

Akute operates the trust, intelligence, and orchestration layer for advanced public-safety mobility — aviation program development, operational controls, and software — and works alongside your agency so you can run it yourselves.

01

Operational Control Center

Live program operations. Mission authorization workflows, coordinated dispatch validation, and the real-time operational picture across every asset in the response.

Operator-authorized mission release — before any asset moves.

02

Operational controls & software

Akute OS is the software that runs the operation — a software-defined operator surface where one OCC coordinates aircraft, drone networks, ground units, and telemedicine across a single mission, with the standards and limits coded in.

Akute writes and maintains it, and every member agency runs on the same platform — so new capability reaches the whole network at once.

03

Standards & risk

PAO program development. Operations standards. Safety management. Risk frameworks that let a public agency adopt advanced mobility without inheriting a startup's risk profile.

This is the slow, unglamorous work — the part counties evaluate before they evaluate the aircraft.

The OCC, running today

Real software. Real missions.

Not a mockup — the console our team runs live in Hyde County, gating every launch on weather and risk.

Aviation readiness — live weather gating in the OCC
Aviation readiness — live METAR and wind gating, GO windows, PIC as final authority.
PAVE risk review-and-decide card in the OCC
Every launch scored — pilot, aircraft, environment, external — with the math shown before approval.
One response. Many vehicles.

Coordinated as one program.

Aircraft, drones, telemedics, and autonomous ground systems coordinated into a single response, under a single program, with one operational picture.

Advanced aircraft

Piloted advanced aircraft operating under PAO authority for time-critical response.

DFR networks

Networks of Drone First Responder stations coordinated through one dispatch console — eyes on scene before any ground unit arrives, across stations, agencies, and jurisdictions.

Emergency telemedics

Remote medical command and live clinical guidance — bringing the physician to the patient in the first minutes.

Autonomous ground

Autonomous ground ambulances and AGVs as part of the same coordinated response, under the same operational control.

How a public agency works with us

Adoption is the product.

Akute helps a public agency define the standards, structure the operations, coordinate the assets, manage the risk, and scale responsibly. The point is to make advanced mobility part of how the agency operates day to day.

  1. 01

    Define standards

    Concept of operations, operating manuals, training and proficiency standards, safety management — written so they hold up under regulatory scrutiny and operational reality.

  2. 02

    Structure operations

    PAO program development, operational control architecture, dispatch integration, and the OCC support that lets an agency run advanced operations without standing up a parallel command structure.

  3. 03

    Coordinate assets

    Aircraft, drones, telemedics, and autonomous ground systems coordinated through one program, with one operational picture and one chain of authorization.

  4. 04

    Manage risk

    Safety management systems, risk frameworks, and the operational discipline that lets an agency say yes to advanced mobility without inheriting startup-grade risk.

  5. 05

    Scale responsibly

    What works in one county is built to travel. The operating model, standards, and software are designed for adoption from the start, with portability as a first-order requirement.

Bring this to your agency

Talk to the team.

If you're a public-safety leader, county administrator, regional EMS director, or aviation partner evaluating advanced mobility, we'd like to talk.

One operator-to-operator conversation

A direct read on what this would look like where you are — the standards, the control layer, and the path to operating.

hello@akute.org