A little over a week after serving as a very expensive taxpayer-funded taxi to a legislative boozefest in Winston-Salem, N.C. (just five hours away by car), South Carolina’s state-owned Beechcraft King Air is once again flying your friendly skies.
According to public flight data obtained by FITS, “Palmetto One” has been logging several short hops across the Pee Dee region of the state Wednesday, including a flight from Hartsville to Bennettsville (30 miles apart from each other) and another flight from Bennettsville to Cheraw (15 miles apart from each other).
Obviously, we’ll be interested in learning why the state plane is being used to fly such ridiculously short distances.
Ever since the Associated Press exposed S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s improper use of the state plane (just a few of his questionable travel decisions), scrutiny over the use of this aircraft has intensified dramatically.
As reported first by FITS – but then picked up by local MSM outlets – four S.C. lawmakers took the plane to Winston Salem last week for a “legislative convention” that was by all accounts an extended “away from home” cocktail hour.
S.C. Majority Leader Jimmy Merrill (RINO-Charleston) was joined on the plane by Reps. Bill Herbkersman (R-Bluffton), Shannon Erickson (RINO-Beaufort) and Anne Peterson-Hutto (D-Charleston).
Also aboard were two hospitality industry officials and one registered lobbyist.
As always, keep it tuned to FITS for the latest on who’s flying your taxpayer-funded skies …
By Not Sayin', Just Sayin' August 26, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Ah, a tourism development mission to Marlboro, Darlington, Chesterfield Counties. They couldn’t squeeze in Dillon County, too? After all, it does have the greatest tourist draw of the four counties: South of the Border.
By Oh Really? August 26, 2009 at 4:27 pm
The tail number on that plane is registered to the state but for a Cessna 172, which is about $2 million dollars difference in price. I wonder how the FAA and the state have gotten that wrong in the database. According to FAA records via flightaware.com that tail number (N1SC)has not filed a flight plan in over 33 weeks. Hard to believe the FAA would allow that.
By Plane Talk August 26, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Aircraft Registration (N1SC)
Aircraft Summary
Summary Owner Airworthiness Serial Number
1990 BEECH B300
Fixed wing multi engine
(19 seats / 2 engines) STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
COLUMBIA, SC
(Government) Standard/Commuter FL-9
Aircraft Details
Engine Weight Speed Mode S Code
P&W PT6A SER
Horsepower: 750 (Turbo-prop) 12,500-19,999lbs Not defined 50000625
Registration Details
Status Certificate Issue Date Airworthiness Date Last Action Date
Triennial mailed 1998-01-30 1993-03-30 2008-04-15
By More Plane Talk from FAA August 26, 2009 at 5:46 pm
——————————————————————————–
FAA REGISTRY
N-Number Inquiry Results
——————————————————————————–
N1SC is Assigned
——————————————————————————–
Aircraft Description
Serial Number FL-9 Type Registration Government
Manufacturer Name BEECH Certificate Issue Date 01/30/1998
Model B300 Status Valid
Type Aircraft Fixed Wing Multi-Engine Type Engine Turbo-prop
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 50000625
MFR Year 1990 Fractional Owner NO
——————————————————————————–
Registered Owner
Name STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Street PO BOX 280068
City COLUMBIA State SOUTH CAROLINA
County RICHLAND Zip Code 29228-0068
Country UNITED STATES
——————————————————————————–
Airworthiness
Engine Manufacturer P&W Classification Standard
Engine Model PT6A SER Category Commuter
A/W Date 03/30/1993
By Clemson Flyer August 26, 2009 at 5:49 pm
N1SC is registered as a Beech 300 by the FAA (http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N1SC). The aircraft has likely opted out of public availability of flight tracking (http://www.nbaa.org/ops/security/barr/). This is probably for security concerns, as flight logs for the aircraft are posted for public inspection on the Division of Aeronautics website.
The online tracking sites that show the last flight being 33 weeks ago are likely from either a glitch in the database, a typo on a flight plan, etc.
By Gina August 27, 2009 at 8:31 am
so who was flying?
By Oh Really? August 27, 2009 at 12:26 pm
N1SC as listed on the http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1SC Generally if a tail number is removed it returns a message like this http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N8JR While I too checked the FAA N Number Registry (certainly knew some pilots would pick up on that) the point was that a generally accepted tracking site, was made unavailable or worse, in error, on the tracking of taxpayer assets. Something flew with that tail number 33 weeks ago that was registered to the State of South Carolina. Good Day…out.