Former Leesburg aviation adviser goes to prison for lies about bad propeller on eBay • Clive Felix Ure, 58, of Zephyrhills also must pay more than $67,000 in restitution

A one-time Leesburg aviation figure who lied about the airworthiness of a propeller sold on eBay to an Oregon buyer was sentenced to one year in federal prison, officials announced today.

Clive Felix Ure, 58, of Zephyrhills also must pay more than $67,000 under the sentence imposed by Ocala-based Senior U.S. District Judge Wm. Terrell Hodges on Thursday.

Ure, a New Zealand native who had an airplane repair and maintenance business in Leesburg, pleaded guilty on July 10.

He must divest himself of any interest in the business under a plea agreement.

He served on the advisory board for Leesburg International Airport in 2012 — the year he sold the Cessna 337 McCauley rear propeller and had it shipped from Leesburg to a buyer in Bend, Oregon.

Ure had Federal Aviation Administration licenses as an aircraft mechanic and a private pilot.

In September 2012, he agreed to sell a propeller listed on eBay to the owner of a private plane in Oregon and falsely said the propeller had been overhauled and that it had not been used since the overhaul.

"In fact, an FAA-certified propeller repair station had told Ure that the propeller was not airworthy and could not be overhauled for use on an airplane," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a report.

Ure sent the buyer a log book with a false entry showing the overhaul.

"He also stamped a false serial number on the propeller because the true serial number had been obliterated by the propeller repair station, at the direction of the FAA,'' the report said.

Under a plea agreement, Ure agreed to pay restitution to another private plane owner and to a flight-training school that hired Ure to overhaul aircraft engines.

"When he overhauled the engines, Ure used parts that had not been approved by the FAA, some of which were unairworthy," the report said.

Those engines were later closely inspected and overhauled again at a significant expense.

Ure was ordered to pay $49,136 to the private plane owner and $18,635.28 to the flight-training school.

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