University Aircraft - how 'bout this one?

I was tracking flights in the vicinity of South Bend Regional (KSBN) a while back, and I noticed a Cessna Citation flying out of South Bend with the tail number N42ND. Im a student at the University Of Notre Dame, and the university is only about five miles from the airport, so the ND in the tail number caught my eye. (Its actually pretty cool, because the campus is right under the extended centerline of 9R/27L, and so, all the traffic on final for 27L flies right over the campus. Once, I was lucky enough to get a nice picture of Air Force One over the Golden Dome when President Bush was in town. But, those are all stories for another time.) Anyway, I noticed that N42ND belonged to the university. I did some FAA registration searches and determined that it is the only aircraft owned by the university. Its a Cessna 560 Citation 5, and from what I understand, it is used primarily by the football staff for recruiting and the president of the university for whatever else. Anyway, seems to be a glitch in the system.

flightaware.com/live/flight/N42N … /KOMA/KSBN

Anybody know if N42ND made it back to KSBN last night?

Also, does anybody else know or have been surprised by aircraft owned by a particular school or corporation?

It doesn’t surprise me if thats what your asking. If a coach or recruiter are going to see someone they want to make a good impession also don’t want people watching them make moves to get a start on the rest of the schools. I bet USC has there own plane. (All I have to say is GO IRISH Walker will be one of the best runningbacks this year.) Sorry off topic.

University of Florida used to have a DC-3, then a F-22. Now they have a Citation Bravo and a King Air 200. Auburn has a few aircraft I believe 2 Citations.

F-22!?!?!? UF had a RAPTOR?

Gee, I knew that the rivalry between UF and FSU was pretty intense, but I didn’t think they had gotten to the point of dogfighting! :laughing:

Seriously, I can’t think of any decent sized university, public or private, that doesn’t have at least one aircraft either in their stable or available to them. Plus, any school with an aviation program will often literally have dozens. IIRC SUNY Farmingdale has something like 28 aircraft in their fleet, including multis.

Many times however, particularly with state universities, while the university itself may not own any aircraft they will have access to state owned aircraft.

Regards,

James

I go to K-State’s flight school and we have a King Air 90 and a CJ1 that they use for recruiting, it’s not very impressive but the chief pilots take some of the advanced students right seat with them. hopefully i’ll be that far along in a year or 2.

Up until last year, universities were able to send private planes to pick up recruits for their official on-campus visits. The NCAA eliminated that.

You’re correct; most universities have planes and are used by the presidents, trustees, and even various athletic staff.

In the case of Alabama, theirs is N1UA. However, as with most big-money football programs, some affluent alumni (or trustee) will often time “lend” their a/c to the University. Paul Bryant Jr. (N323P) fills this role at Alabama.

Auburn’s “main” plane, conversely, is N1AU. Wealthy trustee Bobby Lowder’s plane (N604CB) was made infamous after a clandestine trip to interview a new head coach (before the existing coach had been fired) was uncovered.

Both universities have several a/c registered to them also. Alabama has some experimental units as part of their aerospace engineering program. Auburn’s are mostly tied to their Aviation Management program.

The FAA Aircraft Registration Database lists the Notre Dame owned aircraft, N42ND, as Government. Obviously, Notre Dame is a private school, not a state school. Why then would the aircraft be listed as Government?

The selection of type of owner is defined by the choices provided on FAA form 8050-1.

1 - Individual
2 - Partnership
3 - Corporation
4 - Co-Owned
5 - Government
8 - Non Citizen Corporation
9 - Non Citizen Co-Owned

Universities are allowed to select Government as their type because they infrequently meet the definition of any of the other choices.

Regards,

James

Interesting. Thanks.