Beyond the Façade: Smith family helps turn the Hickory, NC airport into a first-class business facility
Beyond The Facade
Smith family helps turn the Hickory, NC airport into a first-class business facility
The $1 million, 12,000-sq.ft. terminal is Hickory Regional Airport's new
gateway to the community. Jointly financed by the city and the FBO,
it will serve as the anchor of a new Phillips 66 Aviation Performance
Center.
HICKORY, NC - In 1996, Carroll Smith, then 62, decided to get into the FBO business after a career as a corporate pilot and aircraft technician. "I wanted something to keep me occupied during retirement," he explains. Today, he and his two sons, Brent and Wayne, head up a first-class fixed base operation that
specializes in King Air maintenance, and has 13 business aircraft in a sister
division that focuses on aircraft management and charter. They recently
opened a new terminal facility under a joint agreement with the City of
Hickory, which sees the airport as a cornerstone of economic development.
Hickory Regional Airport
is a rather traditional looking airport in a traditional manufacturing
town, situated in west central North Carolina. An area long known for
its furniture manufacturing and distribution, it in recent years has seen
its economy heavily influenced by high-tech, cable, and fiber optics.
When the tech bubble burst, Hickory like many communities was severely
affected, and unemployment remains at some 10 percent as a result.
Enter the airport and its role as economic catalyst. At the same time,
the PGA Champions Tour inaugurated the annual Greater Hickory Classic
at Rock Barn, featuring golf's top senior pros. Combined, the reasons
motivated the city and FBO to join forces on a new entryway to the community
for the pro golfers and other economic interests. The result: a 12,500-sq.ft.,
$1 million terminal that says business, not airport.
Aircraft, Then FBO Services
Carroll Smith served as a flight engineer and technician in the U.S. Navy
before moving onto the airlines, Stevens Aviation, and finally a series
of corporate flight departments. Along the way, he moved from wrenches
to right seat to left, making a career as a corporate pilot.
He first got into aircraft and hangar management at Hickory Regional in
1993. In 1996 he purchased the existing FBO on the field, Catawba Valley
Aviation, for $1 million, according to son Brent, who manages the FBO,
Profile Aviation Center. Carroll heads up the charter and aircraft management
firm, Profile Aviation Services, while son Wayne is a technician at the
FBO.
According to Brent, the company today has annual revenues of some $10
million, with the FBO pumping some one million gallons of fuel annually.
Carroll Smith, founder
A Diverse Complex
A first-time visitor to Profile Aviation's complex is struck, of course,
first and foremost by the impressive and dominating office gateway that
is the new terminal. It's unlike most - it is large, modern, and genteel
all at once. In effect, it was designed with the PGA in mind.
There are acres of ramp, the likes of which FBOs at airports this size
only dream of. Across from the new terminal sit pistons in open hangars.
And on the other side of the airfield lie Profile's new series of three
12,000-sq.ft. corporate hangars, two for storage and one for the company's
maintenance. Total hangar square footage on Profile's leasehold: 110,000
square feet.
In addition, as part of the package agreed upon by the FBO and the city
when negotiating to construct the new terminal, Profile Aviation's entire
leasehold was renegotiated and is now 25 years with two five-year options.
