Estherville Aviation, Inc.

Estherville Aviation is a small, general aviation FBO focusing on maintenance on all types of recip aircraft. It was established in 1997 when the current owners purchased it from the previous owners. We have worked on growing all aspects of the FBO but maintenance has been the most successful. Iowa Lakes Community College has a two-year professional pilot training program located at this airport, started in about 1980. We have performed most of their maintenance and in the last few years they have seen very strong growth, modifying and growing their fleet which has demanded more of our shop time. In the mean time we have been drawing outside maintenance, adding Rotax certification which has drawn in a lot of experimental - amateur built and special light-sport as well as ultralights. We have taken on almost any kind of maintenance project for small aircraft but do not offer large paint services as we do not have a paint booth. We have done heavy repairs and rebuilds, and many modifications such as STC's. We have begun doing avionics installations and work closely with Spencer Avionics in Spencer, Iowa, about 45 miles away. We are a service center for Rotax, Flight Design, Remos and Avidyne. Estherville is the county seat of Emmet county, located in extreme northern Iowa, bordering Minnesota and about 75 miles east of South Dakota. We have a population of about 6000 people. We have a healthy school district, community college, hospital & medical clinic, varied shopping and a close, safe, agriculture focused lifestyle culture. We are about 15 miles east of the Iowa Great Lakes (Spirit Lake/Okoboji), a lake-centered tourist and recreation area. It is a two hour drive to Sioux Falls, SD, Mankato, MN, and a three hour drive to Des Moines and Minneapolis. Commercial air service is available at Sioux Falls, Des Moines, Minneapolis and Sioux City. One of our business philosophies has been to help the customer have the best experience in aviation he can have, whatever that is. This has encouraged us to take the focus off ourselves and focus on what we feel is best for the customer, which has helped direct many discussions, and we believe help us be a better business. Our owners confess to be Christians and aim to see God as the owner of the business and we are only the managers, which has also helped us keep what we believe is a healthy perspective.