[JYO] Demise of ProPilots Flight School at Leesburg

        

A letter from Fred Lundahl...
 
Ed
 
- - - - -
 
 
I have heard a number of local pilots asking recently "what ever happened to 
the little flight school "ProPilots"  that used to be at the south end of 
Leesburg Airport?"
 
     As a silent partner in ProPilots, I thought subscribers to dcpilots 
might be interested in what caused us to finally fold our tent last month after 
25 
years of being "that other flight school" at Leesburg.
 
 
      First, a bit of history.  Back in the early 1970's, the main flight 
school at then Godfrey Field was TransAmerican Aviation.  The Chief Instructor 
was a younger Dave Pearce, still a dcpilot contributor,  and Steve Leckey was a 
flight instructor there.  The office at the end of the row of T hangars (that 
building being the critical factor in the recent demise of our business) on 
the south end of the airport was occupied by "Blue Ridge Aviation" a collection 
of guys who gave flying lessons and rented out aircraft.    
 
      When TransAmerican sold out to Janelle Aviation Steve Leckey moved to 
the south end of the field and opened up his own business "Professional Pilot 
Services" in the T hangar office.    He ran this little flight school, where 
many of us learned to fly, until his death in the late 1990's.  At that point 
Steve's girl friend, Joann Keefe, took over the business and ran it until May 
of 
this year.
 
      The sad tale of, first, Steve Leckey's and, more recently, Joann 
Keefe's struggles with the Town of Leesburg to keep a second small flight 
school 
alive on an airport with one major flight school in operation is well known to 
many of us dcpilots.  Troubles over leases, fees, electricity, gas, toilets and 
other minutiae would have driven almost anyone mad and/or out of business.   
Still, they perservered and retained a small, affectionate band of loyalists.  
 
      The beginning of the end occurred when this year's President's Day 
blizzard dropped 2 feet of snow on the shallow pitched roof of the old 
wooden-trussed T-hangar building.  Unlike other airports in the metro area, 
Leesburg made 
no effort to clear snow off the T hangar building roofs and, when the snow 
began to concentrate as it melted, the old wooden trusses gave way in two 
places 
and caved in.  My own Cardinal RG, sitting in the ProPilot's hangar bay was 
seriously damaged in the cave-in, (Leesburg's lack of responsiveness to my 
plight was discussed by some dcpilot subscribers in this forum at that time.) 
My 
own loss and problems with the town not accepting any liability for their 
hangar collapsing on my aircraft is another, separate, story.
 
 
 
      The town condemned the entire structure rather than attempt to fix the 
two collapsed trusses, forcing aircraft owners like Dave Pearce to seek other 
housing and forcing ProPilots out of the office they had occupied for 25 
years.   We moved to an outside operation, working out of a big Rubbermaid 
garbage 
can storage box in which we kept our paperwork, credit card machine and 
telephone while we discussed with the town how to find an alternative office.  
We 
asked to be allowed to bring in a trailer to operate out of the parking lot, as 
Congressional's flight school had done for several years at the North end of 
the field.  We were kept waiting for an answer for weeks as the town mulled 
over our request.   Pressure from the airport commissioners (pilots all) 
finally 
goaded the town to respond.  When the answer eventually came back as a 
reluctant "yes", but with no offer of any assistance to set up an alternative 
office, 
Joann Keefe concluded that she could no longer continue to pour her own money 
into a business so clearly not supported by the town.    She reluctantly 
concluded that she had to close down her business.
 
      Joann had to remove her aircraft from Leesburg and she now has two of 
the ProPilots aircraft parked at Warrenton (W66) where they are for sale - the 
1956 Cessna 172 classic is listed at $23,000 and the 1978 Cessna 152 is listed 
at $25,000.  Any readers interested in looking at/flying either of these 
aircraft  should feel free to contact Fred Lundahl at e-mail "<A 
href="mailto:musicfortheeyes@xxxxxxxxx";>
musicfortheeyes@xxxxxxxxx</A>" or (703) 753-6726
 
      Well, this is the story, then, of the demise of another small flight 
school in our area.  The relationship between airport owners and airport 
operators is never a simple or smooth one.   To those of us who learned to fly 
at 
small, informal operations such as ProPilots, this is a sad development.  To 
all 
pilots, however, it should be regarded as a regretable event when yet another 
small general aviation business
goes under.
 

Best wishes for continued unfettered flying!
 
Fred Lundahl

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