Tango Thirty One By Kevin Lacey Back in the day, a kid could ride his bicycle up to the airport, poke around a little and maybe find themselves in command of a broom sweeping out someone’s hangar, or on their back cleaning the belly of an airplane. If the job was done well, the reward might have been an airplane ride. In today’s environment, curious kids are locked out of a lot of local municipal airports by overreaching bureaucracy that does more to discourage future aviators than it does to encourage them. It is like somebody rolled up the welcome mat and threw it in the trash can. Some airport managers come out of college with little to no general aviation background and decide to run the municipal airport like Chicago O’Hare, leaving many youngsters disappointed that they are unable to find a way into the country club. Kevin Lacey had spent a great deal of time at the McKinney Aviation Academy as one of the mentors to the students engaged in the Eagle’s Nest Project who built a RV-12. Some of the students wanted and needed more aviation, but they were not welcome at that airport after class was over. The airport manager came right out and stated “His airport was no place for kids, they are not welcome here!” As a result, Kevin’s hangar at Aero Country Airport became an after school gathering place for several of the kids. They wanted more aviation than their high school could offer and they could not afford the ridiculous rates Border:
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of $250 per hour for dual flight instruction from the local Part 141 Flight School. In the flight schools defense, the new aircraft are north of $300,000, but that is still a pretty tough nut to crack for a kid that can barely find a part time job slinging hamburgers for $9 per hour. It was decided that there needed to be an organization that could help get these enthusiastic youngsters started and stay engaged in aviation without bankrupting them and their families. Founders, Retired Colonel Greg “Spanky” Barber, Retired Delta Airlines Captain Ron Roland and Kevin Lacey got together to discuss ways to help these youngsters out. Most had been flying several times with Kevin in the SloHawk, but it seemed that there was so much more that could be done. Several phone calls were made to Michael Zidziunas. Mike Z is the Director of the very successful Lakeland Aero Club. There is no sense in trying to reinvent the wheel. After writing checks to lawyers and the IRS and waiting around for several months, the Tango Thirty One Aero Clube was born. Unfortunately, tragedy struck the Aero Clube on New Years eve 2016 in the form of a mid-air collision which took the life of Founder and Director Greg “Spanky” Barber and his son Tim. Aero Clube’s approval from the State had not been received by that time, but Texas law requires three Directors, so another potential candidate had to be identified and eventually the Clube selected Mr. Todd Curtis to round out Directors Row.
