Eye on Small Business: Safe Flight Instrument Corp., White Plains

Safe Flight Instrument, LLC  is an aviation technology company based in White Plains, with around 100 employees and an annual revenue of $30 million.

Founded in 1946 by inventor Leonard Greene, the company is a leader in aviation safety and flight performance systems. It originally opened its doors with the invention of the  world’s first stall warning system and has since pioneered the development of angle of attack, automatic throttle and wind-shear warning systems, as well as many other innovations in aircraft instrumentation, flight performance and control systems for fixed and rotary-winged aircraft.

Safe Flight said it is committed to supplying the aviation industry with “quality product, customer service and top-notch technical support.” According to its mission statement, it continues to be a company of firsts, “delivering technical breakthroughs and products that have become industry standards.”

Serving corporate, commercial, general aviation and military markets, Safe Light’s products are now installed on more than two-thirds of the world’s aircrafts. So chances are if you fly on any commercial airline, your safety will be enhanced by one of them.

The corporate culture recognizes the critical aspect of product support. Put in stark terms, this means you don’t want to find yourself at 30,000 feet with an instrument on the fritz in the cockpit and no immediate solution. Safe Flight backs all of its products with 24/7 safety support.

On the ground, meanwhile, there is certainly a “James Bond” aspect and aura to be sensed in Safe Flight’s laboratories, where some of the brightest minds work with cutting-edge technology to develop new products and bring them to market.

Safe Flight President Matt Greene, a grandson of founder Leonard Greene, is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a governor of The Wings Club – the New York City-based premier global society of aviation professionals. In a 2022 interview with Aviation International News, he said he was proud to be a third generation member of the Greene family and was looking forward to carrying the family’s legacy forward.

He mentioned how how his grandfather had also founded the Corporate Angel Network — a charitable organization also out of White Plains that has provided lifts for more than 55,000 cancer patients in its 42-years of operation – adding that one of the things that had kept him personally engaged with the aircraft industry was its willingness to give back. Any crisis throughout the world, he said, and the industry has been there to support it. He specifically mentioned Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the 2021 earthquake in Haiti and the war in Ukraine: “Aerospace is always in the background providing humanitarian aid.”

Locally, 10% of Safe Flight’s employees are graduates of Mercy University in Dobbs Ferry, which has proved to be a kind of hiring ground for a company that prides itself on diversity and a friendly, inclusive culture. This is perhaps best expressed in a recent employee review, as reported by career experts Zippia: “Pros of working at Safe Flight Instrument? ‘Respect.’ Cons of working at Safe Flight Instrument? ‘The coffee could be darker.’”

At a company where the sky is quite literally the limit, it’s important – and no pun intended – also to stay grounded.