Flight Series 1: Administrators’ flights from IPFW total $62,000
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 10/26/2009
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Editor's Note: On April 27, The Exponent filed a public information request for the flight logs of the three planes used to transport Purdue VIPs for the period of Jan 1, 2008 to date. This is the first in a five-part series examining the University's use of these aircraft.
Of the 99 flights on the University aircraft requested by regional campuses from Jan. 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009, 96 percent came from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, totaling approximately $62,000 in overall costs.
IPFW administrators went on 95 flights during this period. The only other regional campus with flights during that time – Purdue University Calumet – took four flights, all between Gary, Ind., and West Lafayette, Ind. Those were taken by Robert Rivers, a dean of Calumet’s School of Education, and Cynthia Fontaine, department chair of education, and cost approximately $5,000.
Of the IPFW flights, 73 were to Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, mostly for Board of Trustees meetings and monthly meetings with Purdue President France Córdova. Other trips include a Dec. 20, 2008, trip to West Lafayette for IPFW Chancellor Michael Wartell and eight other passengers, including Wartell’s wife, to an IPFW/Purdue basketball game and several trips to meetings with Washington, D.C., affiliates.
For a PDF of all the regional campus flight logs click here. For a PDF of the flight logs of all Purdue's regional campuses click here.
AIRCRAFT OVERSIGHT
Keith Krach, University Board of Trustees chairman, said in an e-mail that aircraft usage is overseen by Purdue President France Córdova.
“President Córdova approves the authorized user list and those administrators are responsible for ensuring the aircraft benefit is not abused,” he wrote. “Business Services staff review the business purpose of the trip and provide fiscal review and approval.”
In order to request a flight, a person must be approved by one of the primary users listed on the Turbine Flight Operations Primary User List.
According to the user list as of August 2009, each of the regional campuses has only one primary user. At Purdue’s three regional campuses, these people are Wartell, North Central Chancellor James Dworkin and Calumet Chancellor Howard Cohen.
Several other regional campus administrators were removed from this list in February 2009, including three IPFW administrators, four Calumet administrators and three North Central administrators. None of the regional campus administrators that were removed from the list had requested flights during the time period in question.
Córdova explained that IPFW has a high number of flights because of this approval process.
“Chancellor Wartell is the only authorized user for that campus and he signs for all the flights, even though he may not be on the trip,” she wrote in an e-mail.
Of the 95 flights from IPFW, Wartell is listed as a passenger on 88 of them.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
When asked about the 95 flights taken out of Fort Wayne from July 2008 to April 2009, Wartell explained that the location of Purdue’s main campus makes it difficult for travel to West Lafayette.
“Unfortunately for us, the planes are located in West Lafayette,” he wrote. “When we use the plane, it must fly here first. That does give the student pilots more experience and flight time, but it is a factor of geography.”
When a plane flies from West Lafayette to Fort Wayne and back two times in one day, it is roughly one hour of airtime for student co-pilots.
Wartell explained that because he is the primary user for IPFW, all requests of aircraft usage go through him. He said he evaluates many factors when considering a request, but above all, it must be official University business.
“I consider the need, the number of people involved, the expected outcome and the cost effectiveness,” Wartell wrote. “Use of the University plane has to meet all those conditions.”
Wartell flew between Fort Wayne and West Lafayette five times in 2008 by himself. He said the large number of flights can be attributed to the distance and the need to attend meetings at the main campus. The distance between Fort Wayne and West Lafayette is about 20 miles farther than the distance between West Lafayette and Hammond, Ind., where Calumet is located.
“Using the plane means I and the staff can attend those meetings and also accomplish more here during the day,” he wrote. “We also try to bring students with us, too.”
In the flight logs for IPFW during the time frame in question, only one student passenger was listed.
Frequent fliers with Wartell include his wife, Ruth Wartell; Walt Branson, vice chancellor for financial affairs at IPFW; various ambassadors for IPFW and Bill McKinney, vice chancellor for academic affairs of IPFW.
Flights to Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Chicago and Terre Haute, Ind., were also listed in IPFW’s logs.
A UNIQUE PROGRAM
Purdue is one of the only universities with a program like Turbine Flight Operations, which allows aviation students to log hours by co-piloting these flights. Purdue is also one of the only universities in Indiana with the ability to fly executives to and from meetings without flying commercial.
According to Indiana University spokesperson Larry MacIntyre, IU previously had 2 planes, a 20 passenger Saab and a King, which were both sold in 2008 to cut costs.
Purdue administrators say selling the aircraft is not an option for Purdue, due to the program’s benefit for students.
Wartell said that without planes, he would not be able to meet schedule demands placed on him by University business.
“If I couldn’t save time with the plane, I wouldn’t be as effective as chancellor,” he said.