Heineman: $2.2M plane needed to reach rural towns

LINCOLN — Gov. Dave Heineman said Monday that a $2.2 million budget request to buy an airplane from the University of Nebraska Foundation is needed to reach rural parts of the state quickly.

Heineman said the plane ensures he and other state officials are accessible to residents when needed. He argued that a state-owned plane is more cost-efficient than relying on a charter service.

“This is about having access to the governor for every citizen of the state of Nebraska,” Heineman said during a news conference on an unrelated subject. “It’s an hour’s drive to Omaha. By plane, almost anywhere in Nebraska is (accessible) to the governor in an hour, an hour and 15 minutes.”

The plane is a Beechcraft Super King Air plane. It is owned by the foundation but also serves the governor, agency heads and other state officials. The foundation has decided to sell the plane, and its lease agreement with Nebraska gives the state exclusive rights to buy the plane before the agreement expires on June 30, 2013.

The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee has so far declined to include the plane in its proposed two-year budget. Some members have said they aren’t yet persuaded that it’s necessary, arguing that the money should instead go toward mental health programs or other social services.

The governor’s office spent roughly $55,000 in 2011 on flights, mostly on trips to smaller in-state airports with no commercial flight options and multiple stops, according to flight log records reviewed last year by The Associated Press. The foundation flew the plane 16,108 miles in 2011, at a cost of $80,296.

The Nebraska Department of Aeronautics has said the new plane would replace a 1982 Piper Cheyenne aircraft that is no longer manufactured.