Alexander B. Smith

Background

About Alexander B. Smith

Ever since being a little kid, flying has always been my passion. I still remember the summer of after having moved to a small rural town in Illinois I broke my arm the day before my first soccer practice. About a week later, my mother had taken me to the local airport to go watch airplanes having not known that day would change my life. We were approached by a flight instructor who was a part of the Young Eagles – EAA program. He asked my mother if she would be alright if he could take me up for a thirty minute “discovery” flight. As worried as any mother could be, she anxiously said yes. Of course, I was over the moon. As I went on my first flight, it was almost like magic, being able to grab the controls and view the world from a new perspective, I knew at that young of an age this is what I wanted to pursue with my life. Throughout elementary and middle school, I started attending summer flying camps and volunteering at airshows with my father and latching on to anything flying related. My second year attending flying camp I won a drawing competition giving me the ride of my life in a Super Decathlon. We got to fly inverted, aileron rolls, hammerhead turns, and barrel rolls all while having to wear a parachute. Green in the face and feeling queasy afterwards I still had a blast. My Junior year in high school I started working on my PPL. Soloing on my birthday and passing my check ride a few months later. This passion carried me through my education at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Here there were more resources available to me than I could have even imagined as a kid. I studied aviation theory, performance, domestic and international navigation, physiology, and much more all with the same fascinations that drove me as a kid. My final two years in school I devoted my time to becoming a CFI for my previous employer Epic Flight Academy, finishing my academics, and volunteering my time with Young Eagles, Pilots N Paws, and the local FAASTeam. So, now, in industry, this passion remains with me. As a newly upgraded captain, there’s certainly more to learn, more problems to solve, and yet more to build on. And for this I am very grateful.