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MSU's plane use subject to federal agency scrutiny

December 1, 2014

Although MSU has been using state planes for many years, MSU spokesman Jason Cody  said the FAA launched a review into Michigan Department of Transportation’s leasing of the planes to MSU last year.

Cody said the state planes are more convenient for MSU purposes because they are near the state capital and because chartering state planes comes at a lower cost to the university.

MSU’s biggest spender in air travel appears to be athletics, making up a large portion of the 42 flights taken and the $142,733 spent between October 2013 and September 2014.

Less than $8,000 worth of the flights were not related to athletics, including three flights chartered by the  College of Human Medicine that took passengers to the Upper Peninsula in May and two times in September.

If the FAA decides MSU can no longer lease state planes, Cody said the price tag for these trips might increase.

“I don’t want to speculate what could be the result of the review, but if for some reason there was decision made where we couldn’t use the planes, we would try to find another cost-effective option,” he said.

Both Cody and MDOT Spokesman Jeff Cranson  said the details of the review are sketchy — the FAA hasn’t formally released any concerns it has about MSU’s use of the planes and Cranson said he is “waiting for results like everyone else.”

While MSU’s use of the planes was halted temporarily when the review first began, MSU is still allowed to lease planes in the meantime, Cranson said.

MSU is also not the only state university to take advantage of state planes. Wayne State University also appears on the FAA’s public flight records. Cranson said he could not recall if Wayne State’s use of the planes was also being reviewed by the FAA.

FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory  said the FAA does not comment on ongoing investigations and she could not provide any insight into the FAA’s concerns with universities chartering state planes.

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