A thread in RAO referenced nice guys in aviation. Let's give them credit.
Give an example when someone went above and beyond for you.

Great thread!

1. Back in '97, on our very first trip to Iowa City, our rental Cherokee 140
started leaking oil -- badly. We didn't notice until after we landed, and
Mary brushed up against the fuselage. Her bright red cloth coat was
instantly ruined with oil -- which had covered the entire right side of the
wing and fuselage!

It was Saturday, of course, so who would check the plane? We were only
there for the day, checking Iowa City as a possible location for our
business.

Amazingly, the FBO called in an on-call A&P, who instantly got to work. It
turned out to be a missing valve cover gasket, which he replaced within
minutes. He then called our FBO in Wisconsin, and arranged for them to pay
for his time and parts -- we literally had to do nothing. It was fabulous!

(In an ironic aside, just 18 months later this very same A&P would rake me
over the coals for almost $5K on our first annual inspection -- of a plane
that HE had passed at the pre-buy inspection...)

2. Another great turn of events. We were somewhere in Nebraska (I sadly
can't remember where), again in a rental 140, and the plane would NOT pass
the mag check no matter what I tried. This time it was on a Sunday, and the
place was pretty well deserted...

....Except for one guy, who just happened to be a mechanic! He brought out
his tools and we removed and cleaned all the spark plugs while my kids
played in the grass. It turned out to be a very fouled spark plug, which
we cleaned, reinstalled, and all was well.

He refused to accept any money, and sent us merrily on our way.

There *are* good people everywhere in aviation.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"
"Michael 182" wrote in message
news:6vH2c.516844$na.1172814@attbi_s04...

I got to the airport around 4:00 on a summer morning in Indianapolis.
During
preflight I switched on the master to lower the flaps and check the fuel
gauges. Unfortunately, the master was already on. Some fool had left it on
the night before. Since it was my plane, and I'm the only one who ever
flew
it, I had a vague suspicion who might be guilty.

The line guy at the FBO (this is the embarrassing part - years ago - I
don't
remember which FBO) tried jumping the plane from his car. No luck - the
battery was truly drained. He called in a mechanic who arrived by 5:00,
attached me to a charger, and had me on my way by 6:00. They told me there
was no charge ("we don't charge for a little electricity") and refused to
accept any tip. Given that I hate getting up early, I thought this was
pretty amazing.

I've met dozens of people like this at FBO's around the country. In
general,
the most customer service-oriented group of businesses I know.

Michael