Hillsborough mosquito plane unused 6 years after purchase

A plane Hillsborough County purchased for $700,000 in 2003 to handle large-scale mosquito spraying has never been used in that capacity, county officials acknowledge.

That's because it is not equipped to do so.

It has taken nearly six years and an additional $370,000 to have an experimental, clip-on spray chemical tank designed and approved. The plane will be ready for spraying when mosquito season starts next summer.

The official now running the program contends the plane's configuration lacked the ability to spray for mosquitoes because it also was supposed to transport passengers. But information supplied to the county commission before the purchase in June 2003 does not mention passenger transport, and county records since the plane was bought indicate it has carried fewer than five passengers.

The plane has, nonetheless, incurred expenses. It has flown more than 200 times since it was purchased, mainly to keep the engine humming and the pilots' skills sharp, records show. During the past two fiscal years, the plane flew 18 times, with fuel costs totaling $3,858 and maintenance $152,841.

County Commissioners Kevin White and Al Higginbotham said they were not aware the county had a mosquito plane that had never sprayed for pests. White questioned why the county would need a plane to carry passengers when it can borrow one from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

"Not knowing all the facts and details, on the surface, it seems like it's a premature purchase and a very bad decision," White said.

Higginbotham wondered why the county would buy a plane for pest control that's not equipped for that purpose.

"And I don't know why it would take six years," Higginbotham said. "It doesn't sound right that it would take that long to retrofit a plane for mosquito eradication."

Worth the investment?

In October, the Federal Aviation Administration certified the plane's new, external spray system designed by an aeronautical college and never before used on a King Air plane.

Carlos Fernandes, the director of county Mosquito and Aquatic Weed Control, said the money and wait were worth it. Not only will the King Air, built in 1979, be able to carry passengers, Fernandes said, but the plane will have a longer life and higher resale value because it won't have the smelly and corrosive insecticides inside the plane.

"This is a way to protect the county's investment," Fernandes said. "When the county wants to sell it, all we have to do is extract the spray system and it's like another airplane."

Others disagree. Dennis Boone, a county mosquito plane pilot for 28 years, said he had lined up two planes that were ready to spray when the county started shopping in early 2003. But the former director of mosquito control, Joel Jacobson, passed on those planes.

"He wanted one he could use to haul passengers as well as spray, and they've been six years without an airplane to spray with," Boone said.

Jacobson, now director of the Citrus County Mosquito Control District, did not respond to phone calls or e-mail.

Third choice

The county's odyssey began in March 2001, when mosquito control's DC-3 was damaged beyond repair. Money for a new plane was not available until fall 2002, according to county documents. The county took bids, but the five proposals were rejected, records show.

A new request for proposals in February 2003 included specifications for a desired - but not required - spray platform. Four companies submitted proposals, but only one of the planes had a spray assembly. That plane also scored highest on the county's grading system based on price, condition and features.

But the plane was rejected after the owner couldn't get it to an inspection. The plane that scored second-highest was no longer available. That left the King Air, rated third by the evaluation committee.

The county commission approved buying the plane in June 2003, but it took until Nov. 25, 2003, for the Federal Aviation Administration to approve the plane for mosquito use, said Bob Gordon, the county's public works director who oversees mosquito control.

Other priorities

Documents show that in February 2004, Jacobson and Paul Vanderploog, then head of Public Works' Transportation Maintenance Division, pushed for an external spray system in a presentation to Gordon and other county directors.

"Early on in 2004, Public Works was convinced that was a way to go," Gordon said. "But we had to convince the management and budget office that was the way to go."

But as the procurement process stretched into the summer, personnel shake-ups and storms combined to push the project into the following year.

Vanderploog left Public Works in July to become director of the county water department. A month later, the first of four hurricanes to hit Florida that year came ashore. Hurricanes Jeanne and Frances caused extensive damage in Hillsborough County, and Public Works stayed busy cleaning up the 1,000-square-mile county until February 2005. In September, Jacobson, the spray project manager, resigned.

Approval comes in 2006

Public Works looked at a number of proposals from vendors selling spray systems in spring and summer 2005. The county hoped a ready-made spray system was available that could be used on the King Air, but no such system existed.

The only option was to design a spray system. Public Works decided to contract with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach to develop an external spray platform for the King Air for $370,000.

But the contract with Embry-Riddle couldn't be signed until county executives approved the money. Gordon said he hoped to get the appropriation approved in November 2005 and have the plane ready to spray by summer.

The approval process dragged on into 2006, however, as county budget officers questioned the project's rationale and cost. Gordon said he grew frustrated, but now realizes the budget office was doing its job.

"They put us through a lot of hoops," Gordon said. "We were sure we had done our homework."

County Administrator Pat Bean approved the project in March 2006. The county signed the contract with Embry-Riddle a month later.

3 years for approval

It would be three more years before the system designed by the university received federal approval. One holdup, officials agree, was that three project managers at Embry-Riddle worked on the spray system.

Pat Anderson, a professor of aerospace engineering and the third project manager, said the external spray system went through a demanding vetting by the FAA.

"It's something FAA doesn't do on an everyday basis," Anderson said.

Embry-Riddle applied to the FAA in 2007 for certification. The agency didn't give final approval until October.

"It took forever because this is the first time FAA has been presented with a situation like this," said Fernandes, the mosquito control director.

Kathleen Bergen, FAA spokeswoman, had a different slant. She cited the change in project managers at Embry-Riddle as complicating the certification process.

"It wasn't an issue on our end," Bergen said. "It was either an issue on Hillsborough County or Embry-Riddle's end."

Practicality questioned

Anderson said this external spray system is unique. The pods that hold the insecticide can be taken off by undoing four bolts and disconnecting two electrical plug-ins.

The university's engineers also designed an easy-to-remove instrument panel for spraying that slides onto the plane's regular instruments.

The plane will be superior to many mosquito-spraying planes that other counties use because it's faster and can lift more weight, Anderson said.

Fernandes said the county will recoup the $370,000 development cost through more efficient spraying.

"This system is going to be guaranteeing we're going to be spraying just the right amount of chemicals," Fernandes said.

Plus, in the event that a mosquito-borne disease such as West Nile virus breaks out, the plane can spray mosquito-breeding areas in three or four nights. It would take the county's helicopter, which is slower and can't carry a heavy load, 26 nights.

Now that the project has been certified, Hillsborough County has proprietary ownership of the modification, Fernandes said, and must be paid by anyone who uses it. After the county recoups its money, Embry-Riddle would share in the royalties, Anderson said. He was not clear on how the arrangement would work, however.

But Boone, the mosquito pilot, questions whether any other county would pay when they can buy planes with spray systems attached.

"The probability of anybody wanting to use a King Air for mosquito spraying is one in a million," Boone said. "Anybody who wants a spray plane gets a spray plane; they don't care about hauling anybody inside of it."