By Ted Luebbers
Kevin Lacey, television personality and pilot, visited the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 534 at Leesburg International Airport in Leesburg, FL on Saturday, January 25, 2020.
He is known as a star of the Discovery Channel’s popular “Airplane Repo”. This television program has been watched by millions of aviation buffs for years. The program deals with how aircraft are repossessed when owners fail to keep up with their payments. At that point, the banks holding the paper on the aircraft lose patience and cause the plane to be repossessed.
This kind of repossession is not as easy as calling for a wrecker and hauling a vehicle away. You need to have a qualified pilot to fly the errant airplane away and do so with some stealth as most of the dead-beat owners are not happy to see their planes disappear.
This is when the banks call in Kevin Lacey. He can fly just about any aircraft and has the aviation mechanical skills to get the plane airworthy if need be. This is not a job for the faint of heart. It is totally legal but at times can be dangerous.
What isn’t generally known by some is that he also oversees an Aviation Youth program called the Tango Thirty One Aero Clube back in McKinney, Texas, his home, where he runs an aviation technical services company. It is here that local kids show up to build and repair airplanes much as they do here at Leesburg International Airport.
Joel Hargis, President of EAA Chapter 534, surprised the Chapter’s Aviation Youth members when he walked into the hangar with Kevin in tow. He was introduced to the chapter’s young people and proceeded to talk with them about the wonders of flying and encouraging them to learn as much as possible about building, repairing and flying. He told them about the Aviation Youth program that he runs in Texas, where he has 27 kids that he pushes to do all types of aircraft maintenance jobs.
EAA Chapter 534’s youth members were encouraged to continue their aviation activities, and he assured them that one day their experiences here will reward them with good aviation careers.
If you would like to find out more about EAA Chapter 534 you may go to the following web site. < www.534.eaachapter.org >
Photos provided by Ted Lubbers/Kevin Lacey
