Vincent Smith is a dedicated airplane pilot who's been flying for years and isn't ready to land.
“I don't ever want to retire. I don't see it in me,” said Smith, of Indiana Township
Smith, who admits only to being “sixty something,” has been flying for the boutique airline Southern Airways Express for about a year. His flights are usually short hops from Pittsburgh International Airport to towns in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. Smith says he might make six or seven flights in a day.
As the pilot, Vincent helps passengers on and off the nine-seater, does his own weather briefings and runs checks on the Cessna Caravan 208B.
Flying a plane can be like working in a pressure cooker, especially when the weather stirs things up, he said.
“It's a three-axis situation: pitch, roll, and yaw,” Smith said. “Any good pilot will tell you it doesn't become mundane. You are challenging gravity. You're never totally relaxed.”
But there is the time when the plane gets to its designated altitude and levels off. The pilot compares it to driving on Interstate 79 without traffic or lights.
For Smith, flying is an art. He considers the cockpit of the plane his front office. He isn't worried about the wild weather since those in aviation use all information available for safety.
Often he works with first officers, the correct name for copilots, he says, to increase their skills. He stopped counting his air time when he logged 10,000 hours. The captain is a certified flight instructor and airline transport pilot.
One of the reasons he enjoys working for Southern Airways Express is he returns home each night after work. He flies four out of every seven days. When home, he puts an emphasis on eating well and keeping healthy because federal regulations require pilots to pass demanding physicals.
He said he likes working with young pilots as an instructor. He also spends time flying for Wings for Children, which ferries youngsters to doctors.
Smith grew up on Old Mill Road, went to Fox Chapel Area schools, then to West Virginia University, doing postgraduate work at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
He has lived in Moon and Aspinwall previously.
“I keep returning to Indiana like a boomerang,” he says.
Sharon Drake is a freelance writer.
