Preflight of The Aviator
by M.A. Luce
In the old days, circa 1979, the parents of Steve and Mike Smith began a newspaper for the residents of their hometown, New Windsor, New York. The new paper, named The Sentinel, had a tiny office in town. The office was so small paste-up and circulation took place in the basement of their home, where mom could take care of her twins---an older sister---and get the paper out. . . at the same time! So, this routine became a weekly part of the children's "normal" routine.
When the boys reached their early teens they worked at the newspaper to earn an allowance.
In 1993 Mike and Steve founded Sentinel Printing Services, a commercial printing business which operates as a subsidiary of E.W. Smith Publishing Co., Inc., the family business, which also operates The Sentinel newspaper and two other publications.
Pictured above: Mike and Steve in the cockpit of a brand new Boeing 767.
In 1997 they were ready to enjoy their first vacation as entrepreneurs by heading to the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, this immediately caused a problem---how to get from New York to St. John---without taking a plane! Yes, Mike and Steve hated flying: Really hated being out-of-control, feet-off-the-ground flying!
Nick Butler, The Aviator's marketing director, accompanied them on the trip. He wasn't fond of being airborne either. Fortunately, the trio had no choice. They had to take a plane to get from here to there. (Boats took way too long!)
On their first American Airline Airbus-300 flight, the three friends sat in the last seats in the tail section of the plane. While waiting for take-off no one mentioned the thick fog engulfing the aircraft. They were on their way to the first stop, Puerto Rico.
Mike spent his air time clutching the back of the seat ahead of him and, as he recalls, "I was holding on so tightly I could feel my fingertips through the cushion!" Nick began to settle back and relax. Steve was white-knuckled.
Later into the flight, the brothers became fascinated by the 550 mile-per-hour air speed and 31,000 feet altitude. How, they wondered, did a plane this size fly at all? Other questions rose in Mike's mind about the mechanics of the engines. His brother found piloting and navigation more to his liking. By the end of the flight both had developed a new respect for the art and science of aviation!
Next, they boarded a Boeing 727 for the 20-minute flight to St. Thomas. Maybe flying wasn't so bad. On the ferry ride to St. John, Steve said, "We became obsessed with flying. The scenery was beautiful, we were about to stay in a National Park Service campground; but we couldn't stop talking about flying!"
Pictured above: Mike and Steve in front of a turbine engine being inspected on the 767.
Once they returned home again, the brothers took turns on the computer learning everything they could about different types of aircraft, airports, radar and weather. The sky WAS the limit.
As time passed Steve and Mike discovered that most aspects of aviation were presented from one-sided prospectives--- from the viewpoint of pilots OR ground crews OR maintenance OR air-traffic controllers. They saw the need for getting everyone on the same page and focusing on the overall picture.
Following in their father's footsteps, who has been in the newspaper business for forty-six years, Mike and Steve envisioned an online aviation newspaper that would cover ALL the issues and, like a community newspaper, would act as a glue to hold all of the parts of the aviation community together. Are they aiming too high! Why not?
