
Offering local high school students aviation scholarships since 2014.
Located in Williamsburg, VA

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dante antonelli
Dante joined the US Army in November 1987 as a Special Operations medic, and was commissioned in May 1999 after attending Officer Candidate School. His wife Nicole is from Harrisburg, PA, and they have one daughter, Fallon. He enjoys scuba diving, sky diving, shooting, racquetball, flying and spending time with family. Dante spent the majority of his Army career in Special Operations before becoming a senior military instructor where he spent his last five years prior to retiring in 2024. Dante served seven combat tours in combat zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Kosovo and the Philippines as well as numerous overseas and CONUS tours, and was awarded five Bronze Stars as well as various other awards and commendations. Dante and Nicole also served in the Defense Attache Service between 2014 -2016 as US diplomats to Mexico, and Dante is a fluent Spanish speaker and has traveled and lived in various South American countries as well as Europe.
In 2020 during the COVID-19 shutdowns, Dante took advantage of down time to pursue a life goal of becoming a pilot and earned his Private Pilot’s license at the Williamsburg Flight Center. A year later he obtained his Instrument rating, followed by achieving his Commercial Pilot certification. In June 2023, he obtained his single-engine seaplane rating as well as a Commercial and Instrument multi engine add on rating in 2024. Shortly after obtaining his private pilot license, Dante purchased a 1977 Piper Arrow III which he keeps at the Williamsburg Waltrip Executive Airport and flies two or three times per week to include conducting at least one or two canine rescues missions per month in support of the Pilots and Paws rescue organization.