DBT Aero, with headquarters in Salt Lake City, UT and a development center in Kalispell, MT, was formed in 2019 to commercialize the Synergy Technology Platform (STP) of ultra-efficient advanced integrated drag reduction and the “Synergy Prime” technology demonstrator to permanently solve the problems impeding profitable, on-demand regional air transportation.
The Problem
By automobile or by commercial airline, travel and movement is slower, more inconvenient, expensive and polluting than it needs to be. Air Mobility and Air Transport have not evolved far enough to meet the current on-demand needs for people and product. The modernization of aircraft requires a new level of efficiency not attainable by current eVTOL and other aircraft modernization initiatives.
The Solution
DBT Aero has developed patent, protected solutions that produce quiet, comfortable, efficient, high speed aircraft—electric, hybrid, hydrogen, and combustion—at scales from small UAVs to regional passenger aircraft. The result is on-demand passenger or cargo mobility, from anywhere to anywhere at a cost, speed and efficiency not seen elsewhere in the air transportation industry. Now that’s freedom & flexibility.
The Result
The laminar flow aerodynamics and other technologies embodied in our’Synergy Prime’ technology demonstrator will reveal the true keys to regional transport of people, goods & services:
- faster door-to-door times
- higher lift per wingspan yields lower operating costs, i.e., lower cost per pound transported
- larger cabin volume is more spacious & comfortable
- mass manufacturable low asset cost
- efficient, low to zero carbon propulsion systems
- extremely quiet inside and out
‘Synergy Prime’ can use the more than 13,000 airports that already exist in communities across the U.S. Nearly every community nationwide is within 20 minutes of one of these airports. Communities large and small communities already have the infrastructure needed for new opportunities including passenger air travel, same day or overnight delivery of goods and more.
Where We’re Going
DBT Aero Inc. has a pipeline of future innovations in aeronautics, manufacturing and propulsion systems.
Our focus is to deliver a family of aircraft based on the Synergy Technology Platform (STP) at scales from small UAVs to large regional transport. These solutions will provide lower cost-per-mile solutions for growing air mobility and air transport needs…and true no compromise electric or hydrogen solutions.
Meet Our Team
John Paul Noyes
CEO
John Paul Noyes is a 30 years serial entrepreneur and 25 year commercial pilot. He is a professional Bush pilot, Certified Flight Instructor, Multi Engine Commercial pilot and Aerobatic pilot who is trained in many single engine, multi engine, turbine and jet aircraft. He grew up as the son of an Alaskan doctor making house calls by airplane. John Paul owns his own aircraft, which he flies extensively for business. John Paul is a disciplined leader holding multiple Black Belts. He trains high level athletes as well as coordinating the USA Taekwondo National coaching staff for the Amateur Athletic Union. He has an intense focus on the recruitment, development and training processes that are at the heart of every successful organization. John Paul’s focus is utilizing breakthrough technologies & developing teams to become cohesive, agile and principled leaders. He is, himself, a highly respected community leader.
Michael Duke
Director, CFO & COO
Michael Duke is an experienced entrepreneur, innovator and business executive. He bought, turned around, operated and sold a Fixed Base Operation (FBO) with a Part 145 certificate, co-founded a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) import & distribution company and pioneered the first night legal & IFR equipped LSA for flight training. Michael rose through the ranks of a Fortune 200 manufacturer working in logistics, consumer products, R&D and IT. As an enterprise architect & IT migration specialist, he developed & operated a corporate cloud computing network tying together disparate operating systems and hardware architectures for 1,200 scientists on 3 continents in 1995—years before cloud computing was thought possible. Michael has been a management consultant for what is now Oliver Wyman with a focus on telephony and technology migration strategies, worked independently with clients to improve profitability, cash flow, strategy, execution & staffing, has been a Vistage Chair and is an operations & financial management contributing author. Michael is a Private Pilot Single Engine Land & Sea with a tailwheel endorsement and EAA Chapter leader.
Martin Capriles
Director
Martin Capriles is an international senior business leader with a track record of driving performance, innovation, growth & profitability. He spent 20 years with CEMEX (NYSE: CX) in various roles with P&L responsibility, including CEMEX Venezuela’s Board of Directors, Head Investment Officer, Commercial Vice President and Trading Director. Martin is the CEO of PEMTx Energy, a start-up leveraging technology to produce clean, sustainable energy products. He is partner in STUDIGY, an education, technology & media start-up. Martin also serves as VP of Finance & Business Development for GGC Investments, a private investment firms focused on venture capital, business development, corporate finance & family office services. He is a board member of Surfside Coffee, a Dunkin Brands franchisee with 56 locations in Florida. Martin has experience with M&A, corporate finance, administration, strategy & operations. Martin a private pilot & an MIT Sloan School graduate.
John W. McGinnis
Director
John McGinnis is a talented innovator known for foresight and inspiring visionary concepts. He has a broad foundation in composite manufacturing, action sports retailing, engineering & consumer product development. Beginning in 1995, John commercialized the world’s first thermoplastic carbon fiber snowboards utilizing novel high-volume composite production processes. He founded a 3D solid modeling service bureau to provide cutting edge design & fabrication services to a diverse clientele. John founded Exponent Aircraft to develop scale prototypes of the Double Box Tail (DBT) aircraft configuration he invented. In 2010 he founded Synergy Aircraft to build the first full scale DBT prototype dubbed Synergy Prime. In 2019, John & Michael co-founded DBT Aero to commercialize the Synergy Technology Platform. John is a Senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a noted designer & lecturer within the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). The DBT configuration won the 2013 Popular Science Best Invention Award.
Dan Pace
Board Advisor
Dan Pace spent most of his working life as an accounting and finance professional. After graduating from Notre Dame with a BA in accounting he became a Certified Public Accountant. Dan spent 10 years working for Deloitte & Touche working his way up from a Staff Accountant to a Senior Manager. Dan then spent 15 years at Merrill Lynch where he worked in Merrill’s Global Mortgage and Asset-backed business, sub-prime lending business, managed Merrill’s loan trading book and associated securitized products. Dan went to Tokyo for 5 years as Merrill’s Managing Director & Head of their Global Structured Finance & Investments business. In 2005 Merrill Lynch transferred Dan to London to head the Global Structured Finance and Investments business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He was also in charge of their Residential Real Estate business. This included all structured finance, asset lending, residential mortgage platforms, mortgage joint ventures, the GSFI private equity platform and other GSFI principal investments in debt and equity. Dan returned to the U.S. in 2008 working in structured finance as a principal for 3 years at DAP Ventures. In 2012 Dan left the world of structured finance behind choosing to become a small business owner with a long-time friend. He currently co-own a 7 store chain of delis in New York City named Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish. Zucker’s provides gourmet food to retail, delivery and catering customers in NYC as well as shipping to a nationwide customer-base. When Dan returned to the U.S. in 2008, he completed his Private Pilot License. He bought a Cirrus SR-22 in 2009 that he flew with his former flight instructor in 2010 to AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI where he met members of the DBT Aero team. He was intrigued with the potential technology at the core of the Synergy Project and invested to assist in validating the technology through a full-scale demonstrator.
Tom Hatfield
Board Advisor
Always at the forefront of technology innovation, Tom currently serves as a Senior Satellite and Cyber Systems Engineer at the Aerospace Corporation. Over the course of his career, he has led large scale initiatives in spacecraft development and operations, cyber development and operations, strategic planning, and talent management. Tom is a former Chief Development Engineer for the National Reconnaissance Office and a former offensive Cyber Development Engineering Chief for the federal government. He has worked as a program manager with some of the most respected advanced technology aerospace and defense contractors in the country and filled top technical and management positions across the intelligence community where he earned the highest-level Program Management and Systems Engineering certifications. First earning a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology, Tom went on to Purdue University, earning a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and Remote Sensing. He currently serves as a mentor for FIRST Robotics and is an active EAA member. Tom also donates his time as a consultant for providing sustainable clean water supply systems for relief efforts in Haiti. He currently resides on a small working farm in Northern Virginia with Alcinda, his wife of 28 years, and is the proud father of three extremely talented children.