Iowa State University has sold its Cirrus SR22 aircraft for $450,000 to Midwest Aviation Equipment, LLC. The 2011 plane was purchased in 2014 for $470,000 plus the trade-in value of an older plane owned by the university of $28,000.
The plane was appraised in February at $667,712 by a NAAA Senior Certified Aircraft Appraiser, according to documents.
ISU considered using a broker and a bid process to sell the plane. However, after evaluating broker responses to the request for proposal, bid responses and other market factors, ISU decided to sell the plane directly, the Flight Service website says (item 27).
The university had owned a Beechcraft King Air 350 (twin engine), which was purchased in February 2014; and a Cirrus SR22 (single engine) purchased in July 2014 and sold June 12, 2017.
The Cirrus was the plane former President Leath was certified to fly and was damaged while he was piloting. Damage in the appraisal report said the Cirrus struck a runway light at the Bloomington-Normal Airport (KBMI) Illinois in September of 2015.
Common questions about Iowa State's flight program following the reveal of damage done to the plane by former President Leath are addressed on http://www.ur.iastate.edu/flightservice/.
University Flight Service has three full-time pilots, according to the fact page. These pilots are ISU employees who are certified to fly both the King Air and the Cirrus aircraft.
The fact page also said it was well-known, especially when Leath was hired, that he was a pilot. It was reported that President Leath’s ability to fly was considered an asset because it allowed for more flexibility and efficiency in his schedule, according to the fact page.
Before that the university had two planes, a 1977 Beechcraft King Air and a 1978 four-seater Piper PA 28-161. The newer planes were purchased as replacements.
Original article can be found here: http://www.iowastatedaily.com
Iowa State University has sold its Cirrus SR22 aircraft, the school announced Tuesday. Former university president Steven Leath, who left ISU in May, was criticized during his final months in office for how he used the plane.
Midwest Aviation Equipment of Cedar Rapids bought the plane for $450,000, according to documents posted on ISU's website Tuesday. Iowa State had paid $498,000, minus the value of a trade-in, in 2014 for the Cirrus.
"ISU considered using a broker and a bid process to sell the plane," a statement on the website said. "However, after evaluating broker responses to the RFP, bid responses and other market factors, ISU decided to sell the plane directly."
The final purchase price was $24,000 more than the highest bid, according to documents released Tuesday by the university.
Leath left Iowa State in May for the presidency of Auburn University.
Leath, who has a pilot’s license, experienced a hard landing in 2015 while piloting the plane. ISU officials confirmed a year later that the plane sustained more than $15,000 in damage during the incident.
Leath announced in September 2016 that he would no longer pilot any state-owned aircraft, but he would continue to make use of the university’s larger King Air.
Both pre-owned aircraft had been purchased during Leath's tenure at ISU, replacing older planes. The Cirrus was purchased using unrestricted ISU Foundation funds that were under Leath's discretion.
An audit by the regents released in December found that some of the flights in which Leath had mixed personal and professional business entered a gray area in terms of compliance with university and regent policies.
The university has been reviewing its ownership of planes as part of a broad review of the ISU Flight Service. ISU officials said last month that an internal operations review led to “no major changes” in the service’s operation manual and procedure guide.
A draft financial analysis ISU officials provided to the regents in February projected that it would cost the university nearly $33,000 more during the next academic year to contract charter flights rather than use ISU Flight Service.
The two “summary considerations” that offered at the end of the draft report include:
Keep Flight Service operational “at least for the time being” and open new discussions with the Ames Municipal Airport's new fixed-based-operator, Central Iowa Air Service, to see what further savings are possible.
Allow the ISU Department of Athletics — which makes the most use of the service — to assume administrative oversight and financial responsibility for the service.
Bob Donley, the board's executive director, gave ISU officials in February additional time to gather and analyze the additional information about the operator for the airport. Since then, neither the regents nor the university has released a final draft of the report.
Donley announced last week that he would resign as executive director July 15. The regents will conduct a search for his replacement.
ISU is the only one of Iowa's three public universities that owns aircraft for general use.
The University of Iowa owns three airplanes and one helicopter, according to information provided in September. All four aircraft are used solely for sponsored/funded research at the Operator Performance Laboratory within the College of Engineering, and all of the pilots are part of the research staff.
Original article can be found here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com
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