{"id":618,"date":"2008-01-15T21:52:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-15T21:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=618"},"modified":"2008-01-15T21:52:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-15T21:52:00","slug":"ark-dem-gaz-in-cahoots-with-gov-beebe-on-use-of-state-airplane-no-answers-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=618","title":{"rendered":"Ark. Dem-Gaz in cahoots with Gov. Beebe on use of state airplane? No answers yet."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette                                                       <\/span>January
\n10, 2008<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

To whom it may concern:<\/p>\n

Questions and data regarding the use of the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new
\nBeechcraft King Air, Tail number N390SP.<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Was it coincidental that after I filed an FOIA request on
\nNov. 17, 2007 asking for specific information regarding the use of the new King
\nAir and what print material and media advertising in Spanish and the scope of
\nthe distribution by the state police, there appeared shortly thereafter, Dec.
\n10, 2007 a fragmented account of Gov. Beebe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flights in the King Air in this
\nnewspaper?<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

A copy of our FOIA requests can be found at arkansasfreedom.net<\/a> .  <\/span>Reading the FOI response it is obvious that
\nCol. Phillips\/Bill Sadler did not provide all the information requested. <\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

My FOI request only called for the log of the new King
\nAir. Before the plane was purchased, Gov. Beebe stated he would pay for any
\npersonal use of the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s airplane.  <\/span>I
\nFOIed immediately asking the State Police did the new plane have a commercial
\nticket as required by FARS  <\/span>91 and the
\nanswer from Sadler was no.   <\/span>Therefore;
\nif the Governor flies in the King Air for personal use he is violation of FARS 91.  <\/span>One of the specifics in my FOI request
\nconcerned any personal trips made on the plane. 
\n<\/span>That question was not answered. <\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

My FOI request for logs dated from May 14, 2007, the
\nfirst flight for the new plane, except for a 30 minute instructional flight by
\ntwo state police pilots.  <\/span>Your record of
\nflights for the same period of time showed 52 flights with a Hobbes time of 53
\nhours, 18 minutes.  <\/span>My numbers taken off
\nthe official logs showed 63hours, 30 minutes\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6a discrepancy of 10 hours, 12 minutes.  <\/span>The question then becomes, who used the plane
\nfor 10 hours, 12 minutes and for what purpose? 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Hobbes meter showed 105 hours, 30 minutes of flight
\ntime on the first 30 minute training flight. 
\n<\/span>For a new plane to have logged that many hours before being delivered to
\nthe new owner is curious, i.e. is this large number of hours before delivery of
\na new airplane the norm?<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The ASP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stated cost per hour for flying the King Air is
\n$875.  <\/span>I do not believe this to be an
\naccurate figure, e.g. the state maintains at least 2 pilots and 2 co-pilots to
\nfly the King and there are other associated costs not figured in.<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

On May 30, 2007, W. Phillips, C. Barfield, M. Davidson,
\nT. Knuckles, J. Howard, and G. Grimes were flown to Huntsville, Arkansas.  <\/span>No charge and no specific answer regarding
\nthe purpose of the flight.<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

June 26, 2007 Lt. Gov. Bill Halter and one staff member
\nflew to Rogers, Arkansas.  <\/span>The account
\nstatus: Paid.  <\/span>Who paid?  <\/span>How much? And to whom?  <\/span>A violation of FARS 91. <\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Most of the logs did not indicate the names of the
\npersons on board and none contained the specific purposes of the flights.<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Also troubling is what I regard as more abuse of the
\nstate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s airplane.<\/p>\n

1.      
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Using your account of flights, 12 of those trips
\nshould have been made in an ASP vehicle.<\/p>\n

a.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Some
\nof the trips could have possibly been made quicker in a vehicle in the time it
\ntakes to pre-flight the craft, file flight plans, get take-off clearances, etc.
\nand cost the taxpayer much less.<\/p>\n

2.      
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>The Governor takes an inordinate number of state
\nemployees on his trips. Why?<\/p>\n

3.      
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Has he used the new airplane for personal use?<\/p>\n

4.      
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>ASP has lighter aircraft and helicopters, and
\nwould save taxpayers thousands of dollars if he would use those instead of the
\nKing Air, e.g. a Cessna 172.<\/p>\n

And finally, who is legally authorized to fly in the
\nstate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new King Air?<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

If your newspaper would address these concerns, it would
\nserve to put the Governor on notice that the abuse of the airplane will not be
\ntolerated by him and others, as done by his predecessor,  <\/span>for so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153official\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and personal
\njaunts.  <\/span>A 9 place aircraft is not a play
\ntoy and the citizens need to know what these so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153official\u00e2\u20ac\u009d jaunts are
\nfor, specifically.  <\/span>(\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Official Business\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nas the only explanation is not sufficient)<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

I sincerely hope you will do some investigative reporting
\non the use of the taxpayer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s airplane.<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kindest regards,<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Joe McCutchen<\/p>\n

Fort Smith<\/p>\n

joeusa@cox.net<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette                                                       January 10, 2008   To whom it may concern: Questions and data regarding the use of the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new Beechcraft King Air, Tail number N390SP.   Was it coincidental that after I filed an FOIA request on Nov. 17, 2007 asking for specific information regarding the use of the new King Air and … Continue reading Ark. Dem-Gaz in cahoots with Gov. Beebe on use of state airplane? No answers yet.<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beebe-continues-the-corruption-legacy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}