Warbird Information Exchange

What to do with a military trainer jet on loan to the city by the United States Air Force will be discussed as the Neosho City Council meets Tuesday night.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Neosho Civic Auditorium, located at 109 W. Main.

In late May, an official with the National Museum of the United States Air Force told City Manager Jan Blase the city’s loan renewal package for a decommissioned T-37A Cessna jet aircraft was two months overdue. The official, Patricia A. Ochs, static display administrator for the museum, requested the agreement be forwarded to her office no later than June 15.

However, on June 16, the Neosho City Council voted to table an agreement with Premier Turbines, the firm that currently has the aircraft, in order to meet with officials from the aircraft engine refurbishing company as to their plans for the plane.

On March 18, 2003, the council was informed that the city had requested the aircraft for Premier Turbines to place on pedestal for static display at their plant entrance. In September of that year, according to council minutes, the council was told the aircraft had to be placed on city property, in accordance with USAF regulations regarding decommissioned aircraft. Premier Turbines agreed to grant the city slightly less than a quarter acre of property and the council was also told that Premier agreed to fund the expense of obtaining, shipping and displaying the trainer jet, as well as assuming all liability for the aircraft. If the jet was returned, the city would deed the land back to Premier Turbines.

According to background information provided by Blase, the council was asked to renew the agreement with the Air Force museum on Feb. 17, 2004. At that time, the council was told the aircraft would be overhauled and ready for display the following spring. But a year later, the agreement again came up for renewal, with the council told the jet was still being prepared for display. In March 2006, the council was told the jet was scheduled to be mounted that summer.

But this work has still not been done and in the interim, the city has been keeping liability insurance on the plane. At the June 16 meeting, Blase told the council another payment of $1,875 was due soon.

To end the agreement and have the Air Force take the plane back, the city has to return the plane in restored condition and pay shipping costs on the aircraft.

During the June 16 meeting, city officials said Premier Turbines seems to have lost interest in restoring and displaying the plane since the company was acquired by Dallas Airmotive and its parent company, BBA Aviation Engine Repair and Overhaul, in 2003.

“Premier Turbines finds itself in a difficult situation as the company was purchased by another company out of Texas,” Steve Hays, city attorney, told the council. “There has been a changing of the guard, of the people, out there. The people who were most interested in purchasing it are no longer employed out there. The company is not interested in spending their money on this.”