A man who stole airplanes for a living started a teen flying club.
Kevin Lacey became well-known through the Discovery Channel’s series “Airplane Repo,” which ran from 2010 to 2015. He also owns a company called Texas Air Fleet that maintains, finances, and leases aircraft in McKinney, Texas.
He often noticed kids hanging around outside Aero Country Airport (T31). Perhaps the kids recognized him from the television series. His distinctive mustache and cool demeanor exude a done-that-and-survived-it vibe.
“When I was a kid, I rode my bicycle to the airport and rode out around the T-hangars and stuff,” Kevin recalled. “I wiped the bellies of airplanes and swept hangar floors. Kids can’t do that today. If they drive to the airport nowadays to sit outside the fence to watch airplanes, the cops run them off. Some will threaten to throw them in jail.”
Kevin’s eyes reflected severe-clear skies as he spoke outside the Lakeland Aero Club hangar at the 2022 SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo.
“So, for some reason, these youngsters decided I was one of those approachable kind of guys, and they started showing up at my private hangar,” Kevin said.
He and a friend had been out flying and were “eating pizzas and drinking beer when 10 kids showed up” and asked if they could hang out with them.
Wondering what to do with the teens, Kevin called up a friend: Mike Zidziunas, president of the Lakeland Aero Club in Lakeland, Florida. He shared his experiences starting a teen flying club.
In October 2016, Kevin joined with Lt. Col. Greg “Spanky” Barber and retired Delta Airlines Captain Ron Roland to start the teen flying club. Just five months later, in March 2017, the Tango 31 Aero Clube was “fully accredited” as a non-profit organization.
Why clube and not club? Kevin explained he spent some time working in Brazil, where he made some great friends. They spell club with an e, so he decided to follow suit.
After settling on a name, the next task was finding a project airplane for the teens. That led to the frame-up restoration of a 1967 Cessna 150G (N4658X).
Sponsors like Concorde Battery, PS Engineering, airshow performer Gene Soucy, and Vantage Plane Plastics stepped up with donations to fund the project and the flying club.
While working on the project plane, the club members also got the chance to fly.
The first thing each did was a Young Eagles flight. Through this Experimental Aircraft Association program, the teens received free access to Sporty’s online interactive Private Pilot Course.
Dave Burt and Kevin donated their time to teach the club members how to fly.
In 2018, Tango Thirty One Clube members restored a 1976 Cessna 150M (N8635U). They dubbed it “35 Ugly” because of its pre-restoration look.
That year, club members flew both restored Cessna 150s to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. They also flew to Alva, Oklahoma, for the Wings Over the Prairie Fly-in where the restored 1967 Cessna 150G (N4658X) won more awards than they could hang from the propellers.
While building aircraft, they built friendships. They gave one another call signs and each call sign had a story of how it came to be — like Alex “Blue” Coats, Daniel “The Professor” Kaphhnigst, Kevin “The Hammer” Butler, Ben “Sci-Fi” Lungerich, Sahara “Miss Ponytail” Billman, Nick “Snaggletooth” Heilman, Heather “Little Red” Pappas, and “Kaleb “Beer Money” McPherson.
Skinny’s Story
Kevin then shared the story of Gabriel “Skinny” Hatton, one of the pioneer members of the club.
“I introduced him to a friend of mine who was flying a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), a Falcon 7X, and a Bell 412,” Kevin recalled. “Skinny walked into his hangar and his eyeballs bugged out of his head. As we were leaving the hangar, Rob grabbed him by the collar and he goes, ‘Hey, young man, I gotta tell you something. You pay attention. If he’s putting the effort in to try to help you guys and give you a leg up, he knows something about something. He’s seen a thing or two, so pay attention to what he’s telling you. I used to work for him.’”
“He used to work for you, Kev?”
“Yeah, Skinny. He was one of my pilots.”
“Man, that kid turned around. He focused and finished his private pilot studies and got his written test passed, his private pilot’s certificate shortly thereafter. I mean he was going full speed ahead.”
Kevin took a deep breath and watched a skywriter fly overhead.
“He turned into a leader in the club instead of playing grab-ass or playing with his cell phone and trying to hide it from me. Skinny got to the point he’d say, ‘Hey, put your phone down. We have work to do.’”
Kevin cleared his throat, then went into the story of how Skinny died in a crash on Sept. 23, 2019, when he was flying solo in northwest Arkansas.
“The accident happened on Monday night. We gathered on Tuesday night and by then everyone in the club has found out, as have their parents. Now they all want to know what to think about it. We’d been to Oshkosh. They liked what they were doing. They’re having fun and earning their certificates.”
“So, the parents all show up and Skinny’s dad sends me a text message to ask how the club members are taking the crash,” he continued. “This is less than 24 hours after that. I told him I don’t know but we have a lot of parents here and we’re sorting through it right now. He said, ‘Don’t let anybody leave. We’ll be right there.’”
Kevin shook his head and continued.
“I thought, ‘oh crap, here we go.’ Things were going through my mind like ‘I wonder if Mike and the Lakeland Aero Club wants our airplanes and our stuff?”
When Skinny’s parents arrived at the club’s hangar, they walked around and gave everyone — moms, dads, and the teens — hugs.
Then Skinny’s dad began to talk with the teens.
“Whatever you do, don’t stop doing what you’re doing,” he said. “Skinny wouldn’t hear of it. In fact, in his honor keep doing what you’re doing.”
“And then they donated $4,000 to the club,” Kevin said.
The club members still mourn the loss of their friend.
“I think Skinny’s crash took a big chunk out of their confidence because normally on a Saturday or Sunday I’d check FlightAware to find they were down in Galveston, 300 miles away, flying up and down the coastline. But they’re not doing that anymore,” Kevin said.
Instead, the club members threw themselves into the restoration of the SwampHawk, a 1973 Cessna 172M (N92893) donated by a pilot in Louisiana.
The club also received a donated 1941 Taylorcraft recently, but Kevin said he may have to slow down the restorations to get the members flying more.
Live Big, Bold, and Brave
The original Tango Thirty One members are pursuing careers in aviation and honoring Skinny to “live big, bold, and brave.”
Sahara “Miss Ponytail” Billman earned her private pilot’s ticket in 2020 and is working on her instrument rating at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, where she studies on a scholarship. She just made the Eagle Flight Team.
Kaleb “Beer Money” McPherson serves at Wheeler Army Airfield in Hawaii and just launched his first helicopter as crew chief.
Another original club member is an Airframe & Powerplant mechanic. Another enjoys a full-ride scholarship in aerospace engineering at Texas A&M. And two other members are studying aviation at universities in Oklahoma.
Now those kids are the pilots and mechanics inside the fence.
As a fan of “Airplane Repo” you would have to think Kevin Lacey was a bit nuts, but actually just really good at what he does. I think the idea of aero club was spot on.
I entered the army in 83 as an helicopter powerplant repairer. My final tour was in South Korea working on Hueys in a VIP air taxi unit where i was incharge of the engine shop and on flight status. We flew them broke to figure out how to fix them as test flight crew. We flew 8500 hours the year I was incharge of the shop and had no incidents.
After my 4 year hitch in the army I went to an Aviation school and got an associated degree and a commercial single engine land with an instrument rating. I drove tractor trailer for a living. I know one person who died in a truck crash but no one from my aviation dealings.
I imagine the costs of flight training have skyrocketed like everything else. You have to keep up the lessons to retain more of what you are learning to be cost effective. The test flight crew I was involved with gave me a lot of one on one time with the test pilot and me in the front left seat. In particular with CW2 Ingraham. He would teach us mechanics how to fly so he could take breaks and in hostile conditions you could be the one left to fly out of danger and land.
CW4 Ingraham spent 45 years in the army retiring in 2019 with thirty years in apachie both combat pilot and maintenance test pilot. I learned this past year he passed away from a heart attack alone at his winter home in Florida. He was the biggest inspiration for me flying. RIP chief.
Great to see Kevin Lacey and company giving back.
I was a airport kid in the 40s.
There were no fencing and my dad would take to see the airplanes when he could.
I grew up loving ever aspect of aviation
When got 17 I joined The U.S. Navy,guess what I learned. You guessed it,It was working on airplanes.
I really thought that this was the best job on earth and i was right!!
I still pass the airport here in mckinney tx and watch the take offs and landings
Aviation should be a alternative class for kids that don’t want there head banged around or knee issues when they get older.
I enjoyed this story:
Ron
We have been discussing starting something like this at our local airport. You’ve provided us a wonderful model. Thank you for that, and thank you for passing your incredible experiences on to others,
May your club prosper and grow!
So inspiring in many different ways!
In our current chaotic World, we find many fences blocking constructive youthful explorations. It is heartening to read such barriers can still be creatively overcome , leading to such positive results.
Often, in the face of tragedy, life lessons are learned and honored. May “Skinny” remain ever-present, and know of his contributions to those he shared his passion with. May he forever grace on the “Wings of a Dove”!
Without Kevin Lacey creating Tango 31, Gabriel “Skinny” Hatton may never have lived out his dream of becoming a pilot. He “soloed” at 16 and got his private pilot license at 17. We are forever grateful he had the chance. The pain of our loss still continues but his legacy is carried forward by the many that loved “Gabe”, perhaps none more vividly than the students of Tango 31 Aero Clube.
Life is short and holds no guarantees for anyone. Gabriel pursued his passion of aviation and got to experience some amazing things as well as develop a wonderful extended family in the T31 community. If you are reading this, I hope you donate today to help other kids pursue their dream in Aviation.
We should all live Big, Bold, and Brave like Skinny…
Thank you, Clint Hatton!
Keep up the good work Kevin, being just a few hangars down from Kevin’s I see how much the young ones love it and the dedication they have.
What a great organization you have built. Well done! I can only imagine the impactful experience you have created for those youngsters. You can bet I will be donating to your club.
Lt Col Greg “Spanky” Barber was a friend of mine from when we were stationed together at Fairchild AFB in the early ‘90s, and he desperately loved sharing the gift of flight with everyone he could. Sadly he passed away just a few years ago, along with his USAFA cadet son Tim, in a midair collision. I can’t think of a better way to honor them than to bring those kids inside the fence and give them a taste of flight. Let’s all do that every chance we get.
Fair skies, Spanky
The EAA Young Eagles Program gives kids free introductory flights thanks to volunteer pilots. Go to the EAA website to find a flight day near you. 😎
I do not know anything about your beliefs how ever what you have done and are doing is a Godly thing (Caring, Loving and Giving of your time and money) if there was more of this happening around this country we would all be living much richer lives. I live near the airport drive by almost every day. I will wave and pray for you and all your kids and students.
THANK YOU for all you do
I confess that I was prepared to skate thru this story because of my dislike of “Airplane Repo”. (I always wondered how they could film that and maintain straight faces.) This story, however, has turned me around about Kevin. Thank you for what you do. I was an airport kid in the early 60’s. My first time in an airplane was my first lesson in an Aeronca Champ. There are kids out there with the passion for aviation. Keep up the good work, sir.