FAA: University staff can fly on state planes
LANSING – Employees of Michigan universities can continue to fly on state-owned planes for athletic recruiting purposes, the Federal Aviation Administration has decided.
The FAA has closed a months-long review of of whether the Michigan Department of Transportation was properly licensed for such passengers and decided no further action was necessary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said Wednesday.
The investigation closed on June 15, Cory said, two years after it began following a State Journal report that Michigan State University coaches were frequent fliers on MDOT aircraft, often on recruiting visits. The feds were reviewing whether such trips qualified as state business or MDOT needed new commercial certification.
MDOT had briefly suspended the trips in 2013 but resumed them after the state Attorney General’s Office determined the state complied with federal regulations — and the feds now agree.
“MDOT officials are pleased that the FAA conducted a thorough review of our flight procedures and found no issues,” MDOT spokesman Jeff Cranson said in an email.
MSU officials were not immediately available for comment.
MSU and other universities pay for the the trips. MSU officials have said no taxpayer or tuition dollars are used and the state planes are an efficient and cost-effective manner of travel.
MSU employees have taken 22 trips worth a combined $81,142 since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year in October, MDOT records show. Head basketball coach Tom Izzo was the most frequent flier. Only one trip included no athletic staff. MSU was the only university to fly so far this year, but it’s also the only university in Greater Lansing, which is where the planes are based.
Contact Justin A. Hinkley at (517) 377-1195 or jhinkley@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley.