Quonset State Airport
210 Airport Street
N. Kingstown, RI 02852
(401) 667-7580

North Central Airport
300 Jenckes Hill Road
Smithfield, RI 02917
(401) 333-8047
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    • S.M. Alinoor had big plans when he incorporated the business name Cindtronix back in 2005. An electronics-design engineer by trade, Alinoor envisioned that the company’s mission would be designing and manufacturing avionics, and eventually building small planes and boats. But first, Alinoor decided, he would open a flight school. Launched in 2007, Cindtronix Aviation now has three relatively new Cessna airplanes, eight instructors and about 300 students – some more active than others – and the company is expanding. The school, located in the terminal at Quonset State Airport in North Kingstown, started offering lessons at North Central Airport in Smithfield recently when another school closed. How did a flight school become part of Alinoor’s business plan for building an electronics and manufacturing company? “I have an equal passion for aviation and electronics,” he says in the Cindtronix offices before slipping on aviator glasses and heading out to his Cessna for a quick hop to Pittsburgh for business. Cindtronix is no fly-by-night operation. A Cessna-authorized pilot center, the school is one of only eight in New England with Part 141 certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, which means the school was able to meet stringent aircraft, personnel and training requirements. The school’s trio of single-engine planes – none of which are more than four years old – also are equipped with “glass cockpits,” which feature high tech, LCD-display instrument systems. “Many schools spend two decades to get where we’ve gotten,” says Benjamin Emerick, assistant chief flight instructor. Alinoor acknowledges he still has much bigger plans in mind for Cindtronix. He’s working on forming a separate division of Cindtronix to design avionics-related products. He has experience in the field, working as a designer at Instrument Flight Research Inc. in Kansas before moving on to a Canadian firm, then onto ON Semiconductor’s East Greenwich division several years back. He left ON Semiconductor in July. Already, Alinoor has used his background to design an “electronic magne to-ignition system” for piston-engine airplanes that would improve fuel efficiency and power. He says it can be retrofitted onto existing aircraft. If his design were to reach production stage, he would like to open a manufacturing plant in the business park at Quonset Point, near the flight school. Far into the future, he foresees another division building small airplanes and pleasure boats. For now, however, Cindtronix remains exclusively a flight school. Alinoor says he’s been interested in flying since he visited an airport as a boy in his native Bangladesh. He’s been a licensed pilot since 1993. “It becomes part of your identity,” he says now. Despite upheaval in the airline industry in recent years, the need for commercial pilots has not diminished, Alinoor and Emerick say. In fact, many pilots are reaching retirement age, which Alinoor predicts will create a greater demand for fliers. Emerick says it’s already difficult to find certified flight instructors because many have moved to commercial piloting. Lately, aviation-fuel costs have dampened Cindtronix’s profits – particularly when prices were sky-high last summer – because Alinoor has refused to raise the school’s tuition to cover the fuel expenses. While many of Cindtronix’ students are interested in learning to fly for pleasure, Emerick said some are looking to make a career of it. A few have arrived from Europe and even Singapore, where flight lessons are much more expensive. At Cindtronix, it costs roughly $9,000 to obtain a private license. So far, the school has had a 100 percent rate on the FAA private-pilot-license exam. The flight school also is affiliated with Mountain State University in Martinsburg, W.V. Through a mix of online Mountain State courses and lessons at Cindtronix, students are eligible to earn an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree in aviation science. Emerick says Cindtronix students range in age from teens to those in their 50s. In many ways, Emerick says, youth can be an advantage in learning to fly. He finds that younger students are not intimidated by the high tech LCD instrument displays that can make flying look more like a video game. The school’s youngest student is 14 and has spent many hours behind the controls in a Cessna but can’t drive a car. “He’s one of our best students,” Emerick says. •COMPANY PROFILE Cindtronix Aviation OWNER: S.M. Alinoor, president and CEO TYPE OF BUSINESS: Flight school LOCATION: 210 Airport St., North Kingstown EMPLOYEES: 9 YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2007 ANNUAL SALES: WND
    © 2010 - Cindtronix Aviation
    210 Airport Street | N. Kingstown, RI 02852 | (401) 667-7580