About Us

Director of Operations

Robert Valle began flying in his home town of St. Croix , U.S. Virgin Islands. He attended Florida Institute of Technology where he earned a degree in Flight Technology. At 21 years of age, he took a few semesters off from college to fly charters throughout the Caribbean with Air St. Kitts-Nevis in Piper Aztecs and Cessna 402s. He then attended Florida State University and earned a BS degree in Meteorology. While attending college, he co-founded the FSU Aviation Club where he gave flying lessons part-time.

From 1994 through 2006 he flew F-16s in the U.S. Air Force, with combat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Northern Watch (Iraq), Operation Southern Watch (Iraq), and Operation Noble Eagle (Homeland Defense). He currently holds an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license, and single and multi engine instructor ratings. He has more than 5,000 hours of flying experience with more than 2,000 hours in the local flying area.

Chief Pilot

Andrew “Drew” Ricciuti graduated in 1987 from the U.S. Naval Academy, receiving a BS degree in Physical Science. He earned his “wings of gold” in 1989 and flew various helicopters and the C-12, the military version of the venerable corporate and charter aircraft, the Kingair. Drew’s deployments include tours to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm.

Drew rotated to shore duty in 1994 and assigned to Naval Air Station Key West. During this time he came to love life in the Keys and purchased a home with the goal of someday returning. His next few years were spent flying various corporate and charter aircraft in the Northeast, earning type ratings in Citations and Learjets. Drew returned to Key West in 2005, bringing over 6,000 hours of broad flying experience to Air Key West.

Pilot

Les Weston joined the Navy out of high school in 1984. After leaving Navy in 1988, he moved to the Keys where he worked as boat captain until 1990. He then transitioned to flying and obtained his Commercial Pilot’s License and Flight Instructor ratings from Florida Institute of Technology in 1992.

In 1994 he earned his Airline Transport Pilot’s License, and has worked a variety of flying jobs since; flight instructing, corporate and charter flying, banner-towing and giving sightseeing rides in a wide variety of aircraft- from vintage open-cockpit aircraft to the Beechcraft Kingair. Les brings over 8,000 hours of diverse flying experience to Air Key West.

Director of Maintenance

Anthony Dauito graduated from Marathon High School in the Florida Keys in 1979. He joined the Army immediately after graduation where he served with the 32nd Army Air Defense Artillery. Tony is a second generation mechanic possessing the FAA Airframe and Powerplant mechanic's license since 1985, and Inspection Authorization since 1989. He has operated his own FAA-certified airplane maintenance facility since 1998, and is a licensed private pilot who enjoys flying his restored BT-13 WW II trainer aircraft.