Louis Smith

Louis Smith, President of FAPA.aero, is a retired Northwest Airlines captain, completing his career flying the DC-10 on international routes. Captain Smith began his airline career with Hughes Airwest in 1976. He holds an Air Transport Pilot (ATP) rating, a Flight Engineer (FE) certificate and is a graduate of the University of Tennessee (Martin). Smith, a veteran of the United States Air Force, flew the C-9A on aeromedical evacuation missions from 1971 through 1974.

Outside of the cockpit, Smith's vision has long been in managing businesses whose primary mission focused on publishing and organizing information that would help current and aspiring commercial pilots succeed in their career--before and after landing the cockpit job. Getting a job in commercial aviation requires more than stick-and-rudder skills, and Smith has spent the past 47 years assisting pilots in reaching their career goals by providing a one-stop shop for the information required to stay on top of this dynamic and complex industry.

Smith founded CyberCompass Corporation DBA FAPA.aero in 1996, and by 1998 was in business as a career planning service for professional pilots.

Smith, 75, was the founder of Future Aviation Professionals of America (FAPA), and served as its CEO from 1974 to 1996. During that time, FAPA served more than 100,000 pilots, aviation maintenance technicians and flight attendants through its publishing, career seminars, career counseling and other advisory services.

Over the years, he has been quoted in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, Aviation Week & Space Technology, USA Today, and hundreds of others. Smith also has appeared on CNN during a live broadcast, on National Public Radio as an expert panelist discussing a pilot labor dispute and on CNBC discussing the pilot hiring market in the U.S. and overseas.