Winging my way from Florida to the FPA Western Chapter meeting in Moab, Utah, I recently had a phenomenal experience with an FBO at Logan, Utah (LGU).

Two days prior to the meeting, I flew my Lancair uneventfully from Jacksonville, FL, to Logan, Utah, (total of 7.6 flight hours to avoid bad weather in the midst of the nation) to spend a couple of days with relatives there before heading on to Moab for our meeting. Leading Edge Aviation at KLGU was very friendly and accommodating—from calling my relatives with my impending arrival time so that they could meet me, to offering to keep the plane in their hanger overnight. It turns out that the operation has recently been acquired by Mr. Scott Weaver and some young folks who really aim to please. 

With the day between arrival in Logan and the final push to Moab, I decided to take in the local scenery by giving rides in the plane to the staff and flight instructors of the FBO. After a great scenic tour with the first flight, I prepared to go up again around mid-day. Pre-flight OK, passengers strapped in, turn the key—nothing! No turn of the prop, no throaty roar—just a weak blinking of the panel avionics.  The Leading Edge director of maintenance, Mr. Kim Hall, stopped everything in the hanger, and wheeled the plane in. After popping the top cowl and inspecting the battery, it was found to be essentially dead.  Kim called his supplier and had a new battery drop shipped in early the following morning—the day of our meeting.  He was waiting at the FedEx depot himself at 7:30AM to pick up the battery, which he promptly installed and tested. Unfortunately, still no dice on starting the engine—further sleuthing revealed that the battery had died due to a short in the starter. My hopes of making it to Moab for the start of the FPA meeting that afternoon were fading fast.  Kim and I completed de-cowling the plane, and after some gymnastics he was able to remove the starter (no small feat in the cramped Lancair engine compartment).  Once again consulting his black book of contacts, he called Chic, Inc., in Ogden, UT. They stated that if he could get the starter to them by noon, they would have it completely overhauled and ready for service by 3pm.

Now Kim and his colleagues at Leading Edge pulled off an orchestration that is still hard for me to believe. First, they contacted Ed Mitchell of Mountain Air Helicopters based at LGU to see if he was running any flights down toward Ogden or Salt Lake City.  After hearing my plight, Ed volunteered to fly my starter to the Ogden airport in his Robinson R-22. He not only did so, but used the FBO crew car to personally deliver the unit to Chic, Inc. He would not accept a penny for his time and effort.  Sure enough, Kim’s contact at Chic overhauled the unit within 3 hours. Kim had a relative bring the starter back to the Ogden airport. One of the Leading Edge instructor pilots, Steve Anderson, volunteered to take me down in his personal plane—a gorgeous Aviat Husky—to retrieve the starter.  This he did, and even gave me some stick time, on a beautiful spring afternoon. Like Ed, he too refused to take a dime for his efforts.  After returning with our newly overhauled and painted starter, Kim reinstalled the unit; we buttoned up the plane, and tested everything out.  Minutes later, I was winging my way to Moab. An hour later, I landed safely at CNY, and made our opening function just in time. 

This can-do attitude, professional attitude, and enthusiastic spirit are qualities I have not seen in a long while, and are to be highly commended—Leading Edge Aviation ranks at the top of my list of favorite FBO, and is not to be missed if you are in the area.