Bill Smith is a native Kentuckian with an extensive background in aviation. During his 30-year military career with the Kentucky Air National Guard, he specialized in aircrew survival, air traffic control and fire protection. While serving as the senior enlisted manager for the combat control unit from 1988-2000, he made 246 static line and freefall parachute jumps and was qualified as a jumpmaster, and SCUBA diver. He retired from the military at the top enlisted rank of chief master sergeant in February 2003 and is now focusing full-time on ballooning. Bill has a commercial pilot rating and has accrued over 1,700 hours in hot air and gas balloons. He is a six-time winner of the Balloon Federation of America (BFA) long jump competition, flying over 750 miles in his record-breaking effort in 2017 and earning the prestigious Shields-Trauger Award from the BFA and the Montgolfier Diploma from Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). He currently serves as the BFA Long Jump Committee Chairperson. Bill is the seventh U.S. balloon pilot to earn the FAI’s gold sporting badge with three diamonds and also the seventh to merit the Distinguished Aeronaut Pilot Achievement Award from BFA. In 2018, he finished second place as the co-pilot of the USA-2 team in the Gordon Bennett gas balloon race. In 2021, he was selected to receive the BFA Bill Murtorff Spirit of Ballooning Award.  He was awarded the 2023 High Fly Cup from the Centralia Illinois Balloon Fest as a “great ambassador to ballooning.” Bill has served two terms as the president of the Balloon Society of Kentucky and is a frequent contributor to its newsletter as well as BFA’s Ballooning magazine. Bill often shares his experiences as a BFA flight instructor by training student pilots and speaking at safety seminars and conventions. He also has a balloon repairman certificate and operates Aero Force Balloons Repair Station in Shelby County, Kentucky.