In 1992, Zephyrhills, Florida was a small town known for its farms and their friendly city persona. It’s municipal airport houses small aviation companies but one in particular has been a front runner since it was established 26 years ago. Charlie Melot opened Zephyr Aircraft Engines Inc. and has since sold it to his predecessor John (LJ) Warren in 2016. LJ has been turning wrenches for the majority of his life, he is a FAA licensed A&P mechanic and has been with the company for over 18 years. The company is known for its ability to provide a quality product at affordable prices. Engine overhauls completed by Zephyr Aircraft Engines are warrantied at 100% for two year or 500 hours.

Herman Vollrath and James Earnest are his lead mechanics and have over 60 years of experience between the two of them in the aircraft industry. As each engine comes in, our team does the initial engine breakdown where all parts are inspected, it then passes over to our clean-up room where each part is cleaned and painted after the parts pass the 2nd round of inspection. The build-up room does a rigid inspection and rebuilds according to customer request and FAA guidelines. Finally our test cell team installs the engine on the test stand where it is connected to a set of calibrated JPI digital instruments to measure its performance and operating parameters during the test run

Zephyr Aircraft Engines also offers a state of the art cylinder shop which LJ ran for over 15 years. Our shop is one of the few that routinely does cylinder work for outside customers. Everything is done in house and we are equipped to do seats and guides with our Rotler SG-8 machine. If you are looking for a particular part for your engine, our parts department is available to lend a hand.

The company may be in a small town but they offer big things. Zephyr Aircraft Engines has proven their success during their quarter of a century reign in the aircraft industry and continues to advance with the times.