A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
SKYTYPERS
ORIGINAL 1929 TRAVELAIR USED BY ANDY STINIS IN 1932
TO SKYWRITE PEPSI-COLA ALL OVER THE USA.
Andy Stinis began Skywriting
in the 1930’s all over the country for commercial clients creating awareness,
branding and impact to millions of viewers. The
company Skywriting Corporation of America
in which Andy Stinis (Chief Pilot) was one of the five partners. Pepsi-Cola, was the
first soft drink company to print its messages in mile-high letters across 10
miles of sky. Pepsi-Cola became one of
the longest-running contractors of skywriting, in the late 1930’s and mid 1950’s. With a fleet of 14 biplanes, Andy skywrote Pepsi 2,225 times over
48 states.
In 1946, Andy begins development
of a faster method of Skywriting using multiple aircraft he called “Skytyping”. In 1949, the first successful Skytyping sign
was created over New York City using
9 aircraft. From that point on, Andy began
Skytyping operations in Flushing, NY. Filed August
18, 1961 and issued October
6, 1964 Andy Stinis was awarded the first Patent (3,151,410) on Skytyping.
The motivation behind Andy Stinis' invention was to improve the quality
of skywriting and decrease the time it took to perform the skyboards in the sky.
Skytyping is seventeen times faster than skywriting and your entire skyboard
will remain intact for approximately seven minutes.
By 1964, Andy had bought the rights to Skywriting Corporation of America
and Incorporated Stinis Air Service.
In 1965, Andy and Son Greg came
with a fleet of SNJ-2 aircraft to California
for a Laura Scudder’s Skytyping contract. Greg fell in love with California’s
beautiful weather and created the west cost division. For a period of 10 years, Greg ran East and
West divisions. Due to business growth
and economics, Greg focused more on the West Coast division and hired Mort Arken to run the East Coast.
In 1979, Greg formed Skytypers,
Inc. in California and purchased
all Patent rights, aircraft and assets from Stinis Air Service. Since the late 1970’s Skytypers has performed
their aerial magic for a host of clients. Among them:
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, MILLER BREWING, COORS, PEPSI-COLA, UNIVERSAL
PICTURES, TOYOTA MOTORS, DISNEYLAND, COPPERTONE, GENERAL FOODS,SEVERAL DOT COM COMPANIES, COMPUTER CHIP COMPANIES AND
FORMER PRESIDENT, GEORGE BUSH JUST TO NAME A FEW. WE HAVE SKYTYPED OVER A VARIETY OF PRESTIGIOUS
AND HISTORIC EVENTS: THE 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA,
THE ARRIVAL OF THE LONDON BRIDGE
IN LAKE HAVASU, ARIZONA,
LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX, SUPERBOWL GAMES,
ROSE PARADES AND A HOST OF OTHER VENUES.
In 1989, Greg took the California
business to Japan
becoming the first US
civilian aircraft team to fly and tour Japan. Since then, Skytypers has created several joint
ventures throughout the world: South
Africa in 1994 and France
in 1999.
In 1996, Greg’s son Stephen became active in the business. Stephen and his cousin Curtiss Stinis wanted
to improve the overall skytyping system using multiple computers and 21st
century technology. Stephen received his
pilot’s license when he was 17 and was perusing Business
School while working for Skytypers.
When he graduated college he went to work for fortune 500 companies and
became very successful in the computer and finance industry.
Since then, he has developed a passion just like his father and grandfather
for flying and this unique advertising medium we call Skytyping.
In August 2004, Greg and Stephen formed Skytypers, Inc
DBA: Skywriters USA in Las Vegas. The goal is to now offer its Skywriting and
Skytyping services nationwide for millions to see. For over 40 years, Skytyping has own the sky
on the East and West coast. Today, Skytypers
has grown into an international advertising firm. With over 65 years in the sky advertising business
experience, national and worldwide clients, being exclusive in the skytyping business,
the growth potential and opportunities are endless. We have domestic operating units in New
York, and California.
We have expanded our services internationally to include Japan,
South Africa and
France.
The Skytypers travel to air- shows all over the United
States and Canada,
demonstrating their precision flying and Skytyping abilities to millions of people
each year.
The Skytyping process utilizes five airplanes that fly abreast, 250-feet apart
and "type" up to 30 character messages in a dot-matrix-like pattern.
When Skytyping, the airplanes create messages in the sky 5 miles long, as tall
as the Empire State Building! Skytyping
can be seen 15 miles in any direction or nearly 400 square miles!
BIOGRAPHIES
Mr.
Greg Stinis, CEO & Squadron Commander. Founder of Skytypers,
Inc and Chief Pilot, developed worldwide market with over 40 years of experience
running the company and flying. Mr. Greg Stinis was taught how to Skywrite 49
years ago by his father. Greg’s Father
is the pioneer of Skytyping. Mr. Stinis
is a member of SAG and AFTRA. He and his
team started off the 1984 Summer Olympics with 5 interlocking Olympic rings and
the word WELCOME that was seen by 2.5 billion people around the world via TV.
He flew in WINDS OF WAR, SWING SHIFT movies and has made over 20 TV commercials,
some even in Japanese. A few years ago he and his sky team covered
62 cities across the USA within 10 days on a Skywriting campaign for Bartles
& James. During Greg's Skytyping
and Skywriting career he has experienced both the spotlight while performing in
motion pictures and television, and that special feeling associated with public
service activity.
Mr. Stephen G. Stinis, President. Was raised in this business. Stephen was Vice President
and Chief Information Officer at Thornton Capital Advisors, a financial receivables
company from 2002 to August 2004. Prior
to being involved with Thornton; he
was a Senior Data Mining Analyst / Programmer with Kinko’s Inc. In addition to
business reporting, he programmed Data Warehouse systems for financial planning
and analysis, loss prevention, internal audit, commercial sales, product development
and marketing. Before being promoted to
this position, he was an internal auditor for Kinko’s Inc.
In this role, he was responsible for internal and operational audits of
over 1,000 branches worldwide. Mr. Stinis’ experience at Kinko’s includes his
successful development of an automated fraud detection system with an estimated
savings of $1.8M in the first 16 months of operation.
From 1996 – 1999, he was financial analyst
and system engineer at Skytypers, Inc. and was responsible for the development
of a patented network using wireless technology.
Mr. Stinis holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Finance / Management
and Investments. From 2000 – 2001 he served
as the Executive Vice President of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) in
the San Fernando Valley and during 1999, Vice President of the Channel Islands
Audit Chapter. Mr. Stinis has been the
guest speaker on “Data Mining Techniques and Fraud” at numerous Loss Prevention
and Audit conferences nationwide.