Let's connect!
Enjoy Mill Valley
  • HOME
  • EVENTS & GUIDES
    • 2020-21 EMV Guide
    • 2021 Mill Valley Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting
    • Winterfest >
      • About Winterfest
    • Calendar
    • Special Events
  • EAT
  • Stay
  • VISIT
    • Muir Woods
    • PLAY
    • Tour
    • Map
    • PRESS
  • SHOP
    • Enjoy Mill Valley Store
    • Shopping Areas
    • Apparel and Jewelry
    • Automotive
    • Banking & Financial Services
    • Biz, Consumer & Professional Services
    • Beauty & Grooming
    • Fitness & Sports
    • Food & Wine
    • Home & Garden
    • Kids & Pets
    • Health & Wellness
    • Nonprofit Organizations
    • Real Estate
    • Specialty Shops
  • A&E
  • EMV Films
  • BLOG
  • Mill Valley Chamber
  • City of Mill Valley
  • CONTACT US
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise on Enjoy Mill Valley
  • ShopMV

Peter Danto Flies the Friendly Skies, With a Twist

9/2/2015

0 Comments

 
In the 30 years he’s been a pilot and the 1.5 million miles he’s flown over that time, Peter Danto says he’s been on a constant quest to, as he puts it, “build a better mousetrap.”

In Danto’s world, that means improving the flying experience. Danto runs Premiere Aviation, a charter airplane firm based out of Concord in the East Bay but with footprints all over Northern California.

Danto has been spending more time in Marin of late, shuttling Mill Valley clients on weekend trips to Tahoe and flying local entrepreneurs up and down the coast, allowing them to take in-person business meetings without the hassles or logistics that often come with them. For his planes that carry up to six people, Danto says he’s created a unique cost formula for those clients to do so, he says, that breaks out to approximately $750 per hour, including fuel and the pilot's time, or an annual lease of 25 flights per year for $12,500.

"It’s like being a part of the jet set but without having to dive into the huge fixed costs associated with it,” Danto says.

Born and raised in the New York area, Danto moved with his mother in 1973 to the Bay Area, where his brother and sister already lived. Already a fanatic about airplanes at 15, he started flying soon after he moved here.

Though Danto has lived all over Northern California since then, he spent his first summer living with his brother in Fairfax. “It was a very good time for Marin County – and it was exciting,” Danto says. “I got here at a very good time for music and culture here. I feel very privileged to have experienced it. I have an extra bond with Marin.”

Danto got a degree in aeronautical operations at San Jose State University in 1982, and soon after graduation moved in Humboldt County to be closer to his girlfriend at the time. He took a job managing the Garberville Airport, repairing planes, creating a charter service and generally resurrecting an airport that, at that time, had seen better days.

“I brought a new life to the community,” Danto says.

In 1989, he moved back down to the Bay Area and bought his own plane: a Cessna Golden Eagle, a “very versatile plane that is the safest cabin class, pressurized twin plan ever produced,” he says, noting that he’s now been flying a Cessna Golden Eagle for 30 years.

That plane, coupled with Danto’s decades of experience building, repairing and rebuilding planes, hatched a new idea.

“There was a better way to build the mousetrap,” he says. “I wanted to make the experience of flying in a jet quieter with soundproofing and more efficient and cooler.”

One of those efficiency modifications was to construct small doors that cover the landing gear when it’s retracted, a minor upgrade that significantly improves the fuel efficiency, he says.

“It makes the airplane a totally different plane,” he says. “There’s no more efficient way to travel a distance of about 500 miles or less."

Over the years, Danto received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for his plane modifications, and also began selling kits to allow plane owners to make the upgrades themselves – he’s sold more than 250 to date.

More info on Premiere Aviation.

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog

    * required
    Click here to subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

    RSS Feed

    Blog Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    142 Throckmorton
    Art
    Arts & Entertainment
    City Council
    City Of Mill Valley
    County Of Marin
    Depot Plaza
    Downtown Mill Valley
    Emergency Preparedness
    First Tuesday Artwalk
    Food & Drink
    Holidays
    Kiddo!
    Live Music
    Local Laws
    Marin Mommies
    Marin Theatre Company
    Miller Avenue
    Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival
    Mill Valley Film Festival
    Mill Valley History
    Mill-valley-in-the-news
    Mill Valley Library
    Mill Valley Market
    Mill Valley School District
    Mount Tamalpais
    MV Chamber Biz Buzz
    Parks & Recreation
    Philanthropy
    Public Restrooms
    Restaurants
    Shopping
    Strawberry Village
    Sweetwater Music Hall
    Tam High
    Tam Junction
    Tam Valley
    The Redwoods
    Volunteerism

Picture
   
85 Throckmorton Avenue
Mill Valley, Callifornia 94941
415.388.9700
info@millvalley.org



Copyright 2018 Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
All images used with permission and/or source attribution.
Site Design by Linda Rosso Marketing and Communications