It may surprise some people when they first learn that Wyoming’s state government, serving the smallest population base in the country, owns two jets to fly its officials around. It also has a $1.2 million annual budget to run them.
But when peeling past the surface, current and former legislators say the aircraft actually help state officials travel more efficiently than if they chartered private flights or drove by car.
“When you have a state that has more miles of pavement than it does individual citizens, I think that becomes a very large and unique issue for us to have two state planes,” said state Rep. Landon Brown, chairman of the House Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee.
The topic of state planes flared up last week when the Wyoming Freedom Caucus called out the University of Wyoming for transporting large donors to the university for free to a UW basketball game. Even though the flight was paid for by the private Cowboy Joe Club, the general wear and tear on the plane was not covered.
Story Of The Planes
The state of Wyoming owns two Cessna Citation jets that were bought outright for $14.6 million in 2002 during former Gov. Jim Geringer’s administration and when the dot-com financial bubble burst.
Because of that, they were a bargain, the former governor told Cowboy State Daily.
“It was (priced) tremendously below what we would’ve paid most any place else,” Geringer said.
Geringer said the state sorely needed new planes at the time the purchase was made.
He shared the story of an unforgettable state-owned plane ride he took with former Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, where the door of the plane unexpectedly blew open mid-flight. Thomas, who was already deathly afraid of flying and heights, did not appreciate the surprise.
“When that door popped open, he about lost it,” Geringer said with a chuckle. “Don’t blame him.”
On another occasion, Geringer said they got struck trying to fly out of Powell when their plane broke down on the runway.
To meet Wyoming Department of Transportation criteria, the new planes had to be able to fly into Dubois, one of the most difficult airports in the state to fly into, and be able to take off when the air temperature is more than 90 degrees.
These planes are used to fly state officials, most often the governor and members of his staff, within and out of the state. They’re also used by the heads of state agencies and legislators to quickly get to events, and have been used in the past to tour out-of-state Congressional members around Wyoming’s coal and trona mines.
Gov. Mark Gordon said on Cowboy State Daily’s Morning Show with Jake on Wednesday that these jets are incredibly important in allowing him to do his job.
The University of Wyoming also owns a turboprop plane.
Is It Efficient?
State Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, told Cowboy State Daily he wants the state to sell one of its two jets, and he now may have the votes to make it happen, as the Freedom Caucus took over a majority of seats in the state House this year.
Brown believes the planes actually save the state money that would otherwise be spent on chartering private jets or wasting both time and money paying state officials to try and drive to different parts of the state during inclement weather events. Certain parts of Wyoming can take nearly eight hours to reach from other locations even in the best of weather.
“Those people that use those planes are certainly going to be at a disadvantage to go around the state and do their jobs, representing the state of Wyoming by attending other functions and events that they’re invited to,” Brown said.
When it comes to offering the public a responsive government, Brown believes the planes fill that need.
“When you start talking about government efficiency, I think that’s probably one of the best things that we have for our efficiency in state government, is the state planes,” Brown said. “I think it’s a very critical way of the way we run our government.”
Because of the increased use of virtual conferencing services like Zoom, it’s also never been easier for state officials to attend meetings remotely.
According to WYDOT, the two planes combined cost $2.4 million to run in both 2022 and 2023. It’s budgeted about $1.2 million each for the planes in 2024 and 2025 as well.
The state also owns a turboprop plane that it uses for flying missions over highway projects to collect photographic and survey data for road design and engineering purposes. The expenses for this plane were $74,998 in 2022 and $53,592 in 2023. It is not used for passenger travel.
The jets aren’t fancy, Brown said, and he questions how much money Wyoming would actually make from selling one of them on the private market.
“They’re not comfortable, they’re small and they are old,” he said.
He also pointed out how having two planes allows various state officials to travel at the same time. If the state got rid of one of its planes, Brown said this would result in around 60-120 days each year where no one from the state could fly while the plane is receiving its annual inspection.
This could be a roadblock in the event of a serious natural disaster resulting in the governor having to scramble and find a charter flight to get on.
“If the governor can’t report to an emergency situation wherever it might occur in the state, then you might be a dollar wise and a pound foolish,” Geringer said.
What Do Other States Do?
Some may still question why the state needs two jets considering its relatively small size of population and government.
Brown said the state governments of Colorado and Montana each also only have two jets.
A representative for the state of Vermont, which has the second smallest population in the nation, told Cowboy State Daily that state owns no planes, but does partner with its Civil Air Patrol for emergency services such as search and rescue and natural disaster needs.
“Otherwise, state agencies that want flights hire local pilots/businesses to take them up for what they need,” said Amy Tatko, director of public communications and public outreach for the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
Although Vermont may have a similar size population to Wyoming, it’s significantly smaller in area.
South Dakota, which is likely the most similar comparison to Wyoming, owns two planes within its department of transportation, the agency reported to Cowboy State Daily.
Mile High Club
Brown rode one of the state planes when traveling to an event in Jackson with former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow. He said they were able to fly to Jackson, present a check for $10,000 to a teacher who had won an award, and return to Cheyenne in less than four hours.
“I would’ve never even made it to Rock Springs in that timeframe because it was the middle of winter,” Brown said.
Geringer said the governor and secretary of state should never travel on the same aircraft, because if that plane were to go down and kill them, it would leave Wyoming without its top two officials.
He mentioned the story of former Wyoming Attorney General James Barrett, who in 1969 had to rescue his plane from crashing when a pilot had a heart attack.
After that incident, Geringer said state planes transporting elected officials are required to always be manned by two pilots.
Geringer had his own harrowing experience when deicing equipment stopped functioning in his plane while flying through a serious winter storm. The pilot was going to try and put the plane down in Casper, but thankfully Geringer had an early GPS device on him that showed they were way off course.
“We fly round and round, and we finally got down on the ground,” he said. “Just another little tidbit that says economics isn’t everything.
“There’s a way to run a government and there’s a way to run a business and that’s with the most quality equipment that you need to meet your criteria and not just play like it’s a budgetary game.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
