Daniel Preston

Government November 8, 2018

With Riverhead’s nod, CAT set to soar in Calverton

By GREGORY ZELLER // A development team with big plans for a reinvigorated Long Island aerospace industry spread its wings Wednesday night, soaring straight toward its long-desired nest. Calverton Aviation & Technology, a 2017 LLC formed by partners Luminati Aerospace and Triple Five Worldwide Group, was deemed “qualified and eligible” by the Riverhead Community Development Agency, clearing the runway for a $40 million, 1,643-acre purchase agreement previously negotiated by Luminati and the Town of Riverhead….

Invention October 11, 2018

EPCAL delay diverts Luminati VTOL to upstate landing

By GREGORY ZELLER // An aerospace company looking to make a splash in the emerging field of solar-powered flight has reached back through the decades to power up an ambitious new division. Over the last year, Calverton-based Luminati Aerospace has gobbled up entire helicopter-manufacturing firms, and key assets from several other rotor-based companies, including Gyrodyne LLC (formerly Gyrodyne Company of America) and Rotor Flight Dynamics. These acquisitions of companies, designs and manufacturing rights are the…

Invention August 2, 2018

Perpetual flight, endless optimism at Luminati

By GREGORY ZELLER // From the Bodies in Motion Tend to Stay in Motion file comes Luminati Aerospace, which has achieved what it’s calling “perpetual stratospheric flight.” According to the Calverton-based company, a “groundbreaking in-flight experiment” and two years of subsequent data-crunching prove “perpetual stratospheric flight by means of fully automated vortex-seeking formation flight” is possible. In English: The startup aerospace company’s solar-powered planes can stay aloft virtually forever – a potentially ginormous breakthrough that…

Newsletters December 15, 2017

No. 266: Luminati back at the dance, LIREDC on top and the LIRR on track three

Glad tidings: Happy Friday, readers old and new, and a special hello to Innovate Long Island’s newest sponsor, Uniondale law firm Ruskin Moscou Faltischek. Welcome to the show! Yellow peg: One of the great board games in history was “first conceived” on this date, according to ThoughtCo.’s unofficial History of Trivial Pursuit, which pegs Dec. 15 as the day Canadian newspapermen Chris Haney and Scott Abbott – over a game of Scrabble, natch – invented…

The Debrief September 5, 2017

Debrief: Happy landings with Daniel Preston

With the fate of Riverhead Town’s Enterprise Park at Calverton still very much in the air, Daniel Preston would like to throttle things back a bit. Half-truths and wild speculation have been part of the EPCAL story since Grumman pulled out a quarter-century ago, and CEO Preston’s Luminati Aerospace LLC, which is looking to purchase the storied property for $40 million and revive Long Island’s dormant aerospace industry, has not been spared: It’s already parted…

Economic Development July 28, 2017

Aerospace is swell and all, but this is about land

By GREGORY ZELLER // Make no mistake: For Greek-American billionaire John Catsimatidis, this is a land deal, pure and simple. The owner of Gristedes Foods, the largest grocery chain in Manhattan, can issue press statements noting his “deep roots and interest in aviation,” as he did after word spread that United Refining Energy Corp. – one of several companies under the umbrella of Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group – would back Luminati Aerospace LLC’s efforts to…

News June 16, 2017

Plant 6 reopened, Luminati says it’s ready for takeoff

Long Island is taxiing back toward the forefront of aerospace manufacturing. One year after a ballyhooed test flight of its solar-powered VO Substrata solar-powered aircraft, Luminati Aerospace LLC held a grand reopening of sorts Friday, cutting the ribbon on Plant 6 at its Enterprise Park at Calverton facility – once a thriving manufacturing hub for Grumman Aerospace Corp. The ceremony included former NASA astronaut Terry Virts, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean…

News March 30, 2017

Luminati in deal to buy giant former Grumman site

Luminati Aerospace has signed a letter of intent to acquire the Town of Riverhead’s 2,300-acre Enterprise Park at Calverton for about $40 million. The deal includes about 600 acres of developable property, buildings and two runways at the site, a former Grumman test facility for the F-14. Luminati, which is developing solar-powered aircraft and other next-gen avionics, bought a former sky jumping school at the park last year. It plans to expand its own operations and…

News June 10, 2016

Sky King, and his World of Tomorrow

By GREGORY ZELLER // A gallery of high-ranking observers watched Dan Preston’s dreams take flight Friday – and along with them, a potential rebirth of a once-great Long Island industry. In a sun-splashed coming-out party attended by an impressive gallery of regional rainmakers, Preston’s Luminati Aerospace officially debuted the V0 Substrata, a light solar-electric craft that can be piloted or fly autonomously and represents a soaring climb toward Luminati’s perpetual-flight objectives. The big picture: Unmanned…

News June 8, 2016

Luminati to debut made-on-LI solar plane

The first aircraft to be designed and built in Calverton since Grumman Aerospace Corp. went wheels-up more than 22 years ago is scheduled to make its public debut Friday. The V0 Substrata – a piloted, single-seat electric “motorglider” – is expected to perform flight demonstrations after an official unveiling at Luminati Aerospace’s headquarters, the former Grumman Naval Base test facility in Calverton. In 2015, Luminati Aerospace moved in and announced a $50 million investment to…

Startups October 22, 2015

Meet the Luminati Aerospace R&D team

Luminati Aerospace shed light on its top management this week, trotting out the startup’s top design and science officers before the Riverhead town board and local residents. The firm, which has proposed building communication drones for a major – but so far unnamed – technology client, is negotiating an agreement to manage the largest runway at the former Grumman test facility at Calverton. The company said it plans to invest an initial $50 million at…

Startups October 8, 2015

Daniel Preston, the thrust behind Luminati Aerospace

By GREGORY ZELLER // Daniel Preston, CEO of Luminati Aerospace, the Brooklyn startup with plans to build communication drones at Calverton, seems comfortable punching the throttle. Incorporated in Delaware in April and registered as a New York LLC in July, Luminati is ready to fly. Company officials, including Preston, are already relocating to Riverhead, and the firm is pushing for speedy approvals of its plans, which include expanding a former skydiving school at Calverton and taking over…