At EBACE last month, Boeing Business Jets announced that current president Steve Hill would be retiring in July after 30 years at Boeing and that Steve Taylor, current BBJ chief pilot, has been appointed the company’s new president. Until then, the two Steves are sharing the responsibilities of the job (although Hill also plans to use up his vacation time). In the midst of the show, Taylor sat down with AIN to tell us his story.
How did you get into aviation?
I grew up around little airplanes. My first airplane ride was in an Aero Commander at age a month-and-a-half, and I have kind of been in them ever since. I was a kid who read airplane magazines front to back, your basic airplane geek. My dad, Richard (Dick) Taylor, flew in the Army Air Corps during World War II and afterwards worked for Boeing for 50 years. He was director of engineering and is known for his work on the 737, the two-crew flight deck and Etops. He still flies his Aerostar at age 87.
When I was 14, my dad bought a 1958 Super Cub, which arrived in pieces on a trailer. We put that airplane together. I soloed it on my 16th birthday, got my private license on my 17th and fly my kids in it today.
