AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022 - 75

anywhere, maybe you can fix them up a little bit, and then you
can sell them pretty quick. But with a plane, it's a few more steps
required for that. "
The brothers got their first taste for aviation from their father,
a pilot, who took the family to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Jeff was
four months old and Christian was two during their first visit to
Oshkosh in 1999. The family attended the event for the next five
years, then returned to Oshkosh in 2017. That's when the brothers
caught the bug for aviation and all things fast. " We were immediately
hooked seeing all the big planes in person, " Jeff said. " For
as long I can remember, my brother and I have been madly interested
in cars, and anything with a motor and wheels that goes fast. "
Jeff, whose sights are set on achieving his pilot certificate
within the next year, got his entrepreneurial start in the automotive
industry by buying, fixing up, and selling cars with his brother.
Their YouTube channel, JR Garage, has amassed more than 1.2
million subscribers since its launch in 2016, and their new channel,
JR Aviation, has attracted nearly 60,000 subscribers since the
launch of their first video in 2019.
Creating engaging and eye-catching photo and video content
with these aircraft from purchase to sale is central to the team's
business model. Viewers can tag along on the team's aerial escapades
as they explore some of the busiest and most remote flying
destinations. Videos featuring a new custom interior, instrument
panel, and paint job; hectic transitions through San Francisco
International Airport's Class Bravo airspace; fun-filled flights to
Catalina Island; and backcountry adventures into private airstrips
in remote Montana and Wyoming have attracted aviation enthusiasts
across social media, eagerly awaiting what the team has in
store for their next aircraft.
" These planes are always on the move, " Jeff explains. " We're
always taking them on fun trips...filming YouTube videos for my
channel and Owen's channel...as well as Instagram content and
TikTok, it's just a win, win, win. We have followers that love the
content, we make revenue off the content, and we get sponsors off
the content. Companies that want to see their parts on airplanes,
getting exposed to hundreds of thousands, millions of people. It's
a great win-win for both the company and us. We are able to put
in some of these pieces which would cost us a small fortune for
sometimes free, sometimes a big discount. "
" There's never a dull moment when owning these planes, "
Leipelt said. " As two people with a passion for aviation we definitely
use them a lot. "
When the aircraft aren't being used as a content creation tool,
the team uses them for personal flights, commuting to work, and
seeking out deals for their businesses.
Leipelt earned his private pilot certificate just after turning 17,
and he quickly breezed through his ratings and began ferrying aircraft
around the country for the California-based aircraft broker,
Lafferty Aircraft Sales. " Riding around in jets and turboprops...
it built my time really quickly and led to a Gulfstream job that
I've had for the past two years. " When he's not flying around the
world piloting a Gulfstream G-IV, Leipelt spends his time creating
content for his social media channels. Leipelt's Instagram and
TikTok accounts have attracted a combined 450,000 followers.
The most common question these young entrepreneurs receive
is how they've managed to accomplish buying and selling expensive
cars and aircraft on their own at such a young age. " I've been
a serial entrepreneur my entire life, " Jeff said. " My brother and I
had big dreams of one day owning those cool cars, cool planes, but
we most certainly could not afford them at the time and we most
certainly did not come from any sort of a wealthy family, so really
the idea of owning these sorts of things was very far out there, but
not impossible. We got our butts to work at a very early age, we're
actually professional numismatics...We buy and sell rare coins, collectibles,
and other tangible investments. We've been doing that
since 2009, about 13 years now...We work really hard at it, and
we take some of those profits and then buy cool cars that we can
make money on, and then we take some of those profits and buy
planes that we can make money on. Everything we buy we turn
a profit on. After buying 40 cars now, I think we've only lost on
one or two of them, and every plane we've bought, we've turned
a profit...We're very frugal and that helps us make sure we do not
lose money. "
Leipelt officially came on board as an investor with the brothers'
second purchase, their first Beechcraft Bonanza F33A. " It
was really well cared for, we got really lucky on that one for
sure, " Leipelt said. " We bought it sight unseen, brought it back
to Arizona, put a brand-new interior in it, and really just enjoyed
it for a year. "
" That one was tough to see go, but we had just purchased this
one, " Jeff added, gesturing to the newly painted F33A behind him,
" which required a lot more of our time and attention. "
When the trio purchased the 1988 F33A Bonanza, it had
a striking yellow fuselage and wings with a navy-blue tail. The
paint scheme quickly earned the airplane the nickname " Banana
Bonanza. " Since then, the aircraft has received a complete aesthetic
refresh from the inside out, starting with a fresh interior by
Aviation Creations in Phoenix, Arizona. Diamond-stitched gray
leather seats perfectly complement the original interior, as well as
the aircraft's brand-new paint job from Master Aircraft Services
in Wickenburg, Arizona. The color scheme features a very cool
Apollo Grey base coat, Virga metallic blue flake paint that sparkles
in the sun, and metallic black accents.
The aircraft also received a complete instrument panel
upgrade with help from Avidyne Avionics. " That will really complete
everything with this plane, " Jeff said. " We'll now have new
paint, new interior, new avionics, a mid-time engine, it should be
ready to go, but then again, it's never the end...We kind of want to
do tip tanks...maybe a turbo-normalizer...the project never ends. "
Left untouched for now is the aircraft's three-blade Hartzell
propeller and 285-horsepower Continental IO-520 series engine.
Like their other projects, when the Bonanza is finished, the
team plans to hold onto it, create some content, and enjoy their
investment before putting it on the market.
niki.britton@aopa.org
AOPA PILOT / December 2022
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022

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