Ohio: Partenavia P.68 Observer - State plane grounded due to safety concerns

COLUMBUS — For 16 months, the state-owned Partenavia P68 Observer airplane has been sitting idle in the Ohio Department of Transportation’s hangar while state and Federal Aviation Administration officials haggle over safety concerns raised by two state pilots.

The 1982 plane, purchased in 1988 for $240,000, has a clear plastic nose, which makes it ideal for spotting marijuana crops and inspecting airport runways. But since the P68 has been grounded, the state has had to manage such work using other aircraft.

The Dayton Daily News decided to investigate because of the length of time the plane has been sitting idle. Pilots John Milling and Eric Smith say the P68’s cramped cockpit causes a safety hazard.

The issue is apparently a new concern raised about a plane that has been flying since the 1970s.

When aviators who routinely flew the P68 retired, Milling, Smith and other state pilots were sent to ground school to begin training on the aircraft.

Between April 2009 and April 2011, the two pilots lodged complaints with ODOT and the FAA, saying that given their height and weight they didn’t have free and clear movement of all the flight controls. In the most extreme positions, the controls would bump into their thighs, they said.

Vulcanair, the aircraft manufacturer in Italy, and the FAA told ODOT that they had not received previous complaints about the movement of the controls.

In June 2011, Walter Hutchings, an FAA manager in the aircraft evaluation group, told ODOT that if the pilot in command doesn’t have free and clear movement of the controls, then it would be unsafe to fly. ODOT responded by indefinitely grounding the P68 and urged the FAA to look at the safety of all P68 Observer models flying across the country.

FAA Great Lakes Region spokesman Tony Molinaro said a full, thorough investigation of the P68 Observer model is under way.

“We are talking with the manufacturer, and the FAA is talking with the Italian aviation authority,” Molinaro said. “We are expecting to give ODOT a response in the coming weeks.”

ODOT owns airplanes and helicopters used to transport state officials and do surveillance work for state agencies. Transport missions, which involve larger planes, are usually done during business hours, while marijuana eradication flights involve smaller aircraft, longer work days and increased risk, according to ODOT spokesman Steve Faulkner.

Smith said he doesn’t have any current safety concerns with the grounded P68 but declined to clarify whether he is willing to fly the plane now. “I just don’t have anything to say about it right now,” he said.

Milling did not return telephone messages. Molinaro and Faulkner did not offer opinions on whether the Ohio pilots discovered a safety flaw or just don’t like the P68 assignments.

ODOT documents obtained by the Daily News said that Milling and Smith “had previously expressed reluctance” to flying certain missions in the P68. Milling is about 6-foot-1 and weighs 207 pounds, while Smith is 6 feet and weighs 235. Six ODOT pilots, including two who recently retired, are close in height and weight but did not raise the same safety concerns.

Smith, 59, was hired by the state in 1992 and made $90,020 last year as an ODOT pilot; Milling, 62, was hired in 1989 and earned $88,147 last year. Personnel files show that both men received positive annual reviews but that Milling and Smith were verbally counseled by the chief pilot in February 2011 about operating aircraft in icing conditions.

All told, the state of Ohio owns 25 aircraft used for passenger travel, wildlife surveys, aerial mapping, traffic enforcement and marijuana eradication. Most of the aircraft are kept at OSU Don Scott Field in suburban Columbus, and all the planes and helicopters are maintained by ODOT. The aviation division’s operations budget is $3.8 million a year.

ODOT’s aviation division has received scrutiny in recent years. Former Attorney General Marc Dann was found to have used a state plane to commute to and from his home in the Youngstown area. A Daily News investigation last year also found that Gov. John Kasich was using the planes more often than his predecessor, former Gov. Ted Strickland. And between May 2009 and January 2011, the FAA grounded ODOT’s Cessna 208B Caravan because of problems the state encountered with the installation of a new $1.29 million digital aerial photography system in the plane. During the grounding, the state paid more than $230,000 to outside vendors to take aerial photos.

State Auditor David Yost is planning an audit of the use of the passenger aircraft in 2010 and 2011, but he does not plan to investigate grounded aircraft or other issues, his spokeswoman said.

Source:  http://www.daytondailynews.com