Old Airplanes Can Find a Home

Lesl Weinstein is trying to help owners dispose of old aircraft that are either unflyable and would cost way too much to restore to airworthiness or unable to find new owners and ultimately headed to the scrapyard. That there are many such aircraft isn’t news. Weinstein’s challenge is to persuade owners to relinquish emotional attachments and let the aircraft go, whether to a technician school, an operator that is willing to squeeze the remaining life from the airplane or the scrapyard, where some of the components may help keep other similar models flying a bit longer. Another alternative is for the owner to donate it to a deserving charity.

“We’re having a lot of problems getting airplanes from people,” said Weinstein, founder of Boise, Idaho-based True-Lock, a manufacturer of specialty aviation fasteners. “People don’t like giving up anything,” he added. Often they have unrealistic expectations of flying the aircraft again. “You’ll see the aircraft just sitting there rotting. There is a tremendous number of aircraft sitting around that will never be recertified.”

Airports sometimes can’t even give away abandoned aircraft. Weinstein thought he had arranged to pick up some airplanes from Long Beach Airport in Southern California, but he said the airport’s lawyers put the brakes on the plan. The lawyers pointed out that to give away the abandoned airplanes, the airport would have to offer them to the public, and not just give them to the charity that Weinstein works with, to benefit from funds raised from selling the old aircraft.  

Weinstein has been helping dispose of old aircraft for the past three years, and the money raised goes to the University of Florida Foundation (see sidebar). When Weinstein receives a donated aircraft, he sells it and puts the money in escrow. The money then becomes available to the University of Florida Foundation, which funds various programs such as the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research. The escrow program helps limit liability for the recipient of the funds, given that an aircraft is involved that could eventually fly again and create some kind of future legal issue.

Anyone interested in donating any kind of aircraft can contact Weinstein at True-Lock ([email protected] or 208/375-4846).

GA’s Good Turn for the Turtles

Leslie Weinstein’s aircraft disposal work helps raise funds for the University of Florida Foundation, which in turn supports the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research and other programs. With his contacts in the general aviation industry, Weinstein was able last year to marshal volunteers to help fly cold-stunned turtles from the extreme northeast U.S. winter weather to rehabilitation facilities in the southeast.

To accomplish the rescue, members of the Wellfleet Audubon Society brought the endangered Ridley turtles to the New England Aquarium in Boston. After assessing the condition of the turtles, aquarium volunteers then prepared them for the flights, helped place them in airplanes and arranged for the rehab centers to accept their chelonian charges.

 “It was the largest rescue of an endangered species,” Weinstein said, and nearly 600 turtles were saved. “It was accomplished all by volunteers. What we accomplished together was phenomenal.” A documentary about the program is scheduled to air on ABC television on January 16.