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Lee Fox isn’t yet a pilot (he would someday like to learn to fly helicop- ters), but his grandfather instilled a love of airplanes and flying when he was young. After completing three tours in Afghanistan as an 0311 Infantry Rifleman, Fox left the Ma- rines and decided he wanted his next “career” to be in aviation.
“In 2018, I was invited up to Con- roe-North Houston Regional Airport (KCXO) to take part in applying Ceramic Pro USA’s aviation products on a Pilatus PC-12 NG,” Fox said. “Af- ter going through the process and seeing both the finished aircraft and acknowledging the owner’s satisfac- tion, I knew right away I was hooked.”
Not long after, he opened Fox Aviation Service based in Orlando, Florida, specializing in providing aviation paint refinement services to private and business aviation
aircraft owners. While the company will happily provide its services for all types of aircraft and helicopters, Lee said that their “sweet spot” con- tinues to be in turboprops like PC-12s and King Airs.
“Because of the way the carbon and soot deposits from the engine exhaust travels across the airframe, turboprops are the most chemi- cally abused aircraft out there,” he
Fox Aviation Service Founder Lee Fox.
explained. “Those contaminants have a real sinister way of making even the newest paint jobs look old. And, there’s the corrosive issue to deal with also. You need to keep those ele- ments away from the metal airframe.”
And on top of that, the major- ity of turboprops are owner-f lown, so there’s the pride factor at work here also.
“People think we’re aircraft detail- ers, but we’re not. We both start by washing the airplane, but from that point on, we are different in our pro- cesses and the products we use,” Fox stressed. “Ours is a multi-step proce- dure that ends with the application of Ceramic Pro’s multi-layered substrate on every square inch of the aircraft’s painted surfaces.”
Fox explained that their process includes a cutting/buffing of the air- craft’s paint to remove any embedded dirt, carbon, and soot particles at lev- els that are impossible to get to using any commercial “exhaust removers.” After that, the paint finish is inspect- ed and then smoothed to remove any remaining ridges that can capture
All types of aircraft can be cleaned and coated, but turboprops often need the most attention.
10 • TWIN & TURBINE / December 2021