About Us

Mission-Driven

We’re going to move the world and improve the lives of millions of people.
But it won’t happen magically. We’ll need every ounce of grit, passion, and conviction we can muster.

Ideas over ego

The best idea wins, no matter where it comes from.
Free flowing collaboration and communication across the organization is critical.

Work hard, play hard

Speed is critical to our success, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Let’s keep pace by enjoying the ride. Look for ways to have fun, build team spirit, and accelerate progress.

Our Founders

Abe Karem

Co-founder and Principal Designer

Legends aren't born, they are honed. With 14 novel aircraft that have moved from a clean-sheet of paper into the skies and hundreds more designs that have evolved on the drafting board, Abe brings an invaluable spark to the Overair team. A true legend of aerospace who is yet again redefining the industry.

50+ years of aerospace innovation
Founder of Leading Systems, Frontier Systems, and Karem Aircraft
Principal inventor of numerous patents, including Optimum Speed Rotor (OSR) and Optimum Speed Tilt-Rotor (OSTR)
Aircraft designs include the Predator, Amber, and Gnat UAVs, the Boeing A160 Hummingbird, and the Kfir fighter

Ben Tigner

Co-founder and CEO

Ben leads all aspects of Overair's aircraft development and commercialization. Over the course of his career, Ben has driven the technical and commercial success of the most advanced aerospace teams. As CEO of Overair, Ben empowers our engineering, manufacturing, and commercial teams to create opportunities for as many people as possible with Butterfly.

30+ years aerospace experience
President at Karem Aircraft, VP Engineering at Frontier Systems
Project lead – Stanford / NASA / McDonald-Douglas Blended Wing Body Demonstrator
PhD Physics at Stanford
MS + PostDoc, Aeronautics at Stanford

Not our first rodeo...

We leverage decades of experience to define electric aerial mobility in a novel, yet credible way. Overair is the fourth in a lineage of iconic aerospace companies. Behind each of those companies is a legacy and a series of technologies that feed into Butterfly's design and, most importantly, an invaluable team that makes it happen. Since the early 1980s, Abe and his teams have been paving the way for Butterfly - from the earliest UAVs, to record-breaking rotorcraft, to helping shape the future of U.S. Army Aviation with advanced propulsion technologies. Together, this experience and technology will unlock reliable, widespread adoption of carbon-free urban air mobility.

Development Timeline

Vertical Divider

1980s

Industry Changing UAVs

Leading Systems: Amber UAV

In the early 1980s, a pioneering Abe Karem founded Leading Systems Inc. in his garage in Hacienda Heights, California, to build a new type of aircraft. Abe and his small team at Leading Systems developed a series of vehicles that resulted in the world's first operational, large-scale unmanned aerial vehicles that forever changed aviation. Leading Systems' designs were acquired by General Atomics and are now incorporated into the Predator UAV.

Vertical Divider

1990s - 2000s

Next-Generation Rotorcraft

Frontier Systems: A160 Hummingbird

Through the 1990s and early 2000s, Abe's team moved into rotorcraft to solve the efficiency issues that have hampered helicopters since their creation. The resulting A160 Hummingbird broke endurance and altitude records and initiated the technology path leading to Butterfly’s high-efficiency propulsion system. Many of the A160's records hold to this day, and the slowed-rotor concept that was essential to the A160's success has been perfected for Butterfly.

Vertical Divider

2010s - Today

Future Vertical Lift

Karem Aircraft: TR-36 Advanced Tilt-Rotor

Moving into the 2010s through the present the focus has been honing an advanced form of propulsion that introduces wing-borne flight. The Optimum Speed Tilt-Rotor (OSTR) brings unmatched aeromechanical efficiency to the fold. Vetted by industry experts at DARPA, NASA, US Army Aviation, this technology has been a key part of the US Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program to field next-generation of rotorcraft and underpins our design.

Why Overair?

Because we rely on an individual touch to convert ideas into action - always anchored by a commitment to ensuring your safety. This means an unrelenting focus on a design that is robust enough for everyday use. At Overair, we aren't trying to be first to market. We want to be there to last. Durable, dependable, a service you can trust.

In 2018 we turned our attention to creating the next generation of mobility and have been hard at work since.

For you. Always. Every time.