Michael George Smith (23 April 1955 – 1 August 2014), also known by the on-air nickname of Smithy,[2] was an English television and radio presenter, racing driver, pilot and businessman.
Smith attended Ballyholme Primary School in Bangor, Northern Ireland during the early 1960s due to his father being relocated to Belfast by his employer, the Ford Motor Company.
In 1983, Smith took over the weekday lunchtime show (11.30 am to 2 pm) until March 1984, when he briefly left to present BBC Breakfast Time.
He and his partner, later his wife Sarah Greene, were both injured on 10 September 1988 when the Robinson R22 Beta helicopter he was piloting (bearing the personal registration G-SMIF) crashed in Gloucestershire.
Smith reported apparent unrecoverable loss of engine power whilst circling to reconnoitre an unfamiliar landing site.
Both passengers survived, although Greene broke both legs and an arm, and Smith suffered a broken back and ankle.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch neither criticised nor exonerated Smith in relation to the crash (it being beyond its remit to do so), concluding simply that "examination of the helicopter [including flight control, fuel, engine control, dynamic systems and the engine itself] revealed no failure or unserviceability that could have resulted in a loss of rotor speed.
"[4][5] In 2004 Smith founded Flying TV, a company providing aerial filming services to broadcasters.
He also won the Willhire 24 Hour at Snetterton in 1986, co-driving a Ford Escort RS Turbo with Robb Gravett.