Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 28, 1990                   TAG: 9006280702
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WILDER USE OF AIRCRAFT QUESTIONED

Asked whether the trips on a state police helicopter were for state business or whether, like some trips Wilder has taken aboard state-owned planes, they were for personal and political reasons, the governor's press secretary, Laura Dillard, said: "The [flight] log speaks for itself."

However, the log at the state police hangar at the Chesterfield County airport does not disclose the purpose of the trips or who accompanied the governor, The Washington Post reported.

After previously published reports that the governor took personal trips on a state plane to Nantucket Island, Mass., and Long Island, N.Y., Wilder announced he would reimburse the treasury more than $6,300 for the flights. Dillard said the governor has done that.

The state budget includes nearly $53,000 for travel by the governor or his staff on planes operated by the Department of Aviation; the gover- There is no law regulating when and for what purpose the governor may use a state-owned aircraft . . . nor is there a requirement that he disclose the reason for the use. nor is not billed for trips on a state police helicopter.

There is no law regulating when and for what purpose the governormay use a state police helicopter or state-owned aircraft, including the twin-engine, eight-passenger Cessna jet that Wilder often flies in; nor is there a requirement that he disclose the reason for their use.

Wilder's office is billed $585 an hour for flight time on the Cessna, plus pilot expenses. State police Superintendent W.F. Corvello said it costs about $300 an hour to operate the four-passenger, twin-engine Bell 222 helicopter Wilder uses. The state purchased it in 1986.

Using that figure, Wilder has run up a bill of about $20,000 for helicopter trips.

Since taking office Jan. 13, Wilder has used the state jet for out-of-state trips that cost about $28,000. Dillard said about half that amount has been, or will be, reimbursed to the state by either the governor or the organizations that invited him to make the trips.

The 18 or so helicopter trips not listed on Wilder's public schedule include half a dozen to the Eastern Shore, including some to property owned by Chesapeake developer Dan Hoffler, a state police pilot told the newspaper.

Hoffler, whose private helicopter Wilder used several times in last year's gubernatorial campaign, served as Wilder's campaign finance chairman.

Wilder took another half-dozen helicopter trips to Camp Pendleton, a National Guard reservation at Virginia Beach where the state maintains a modest beach cottage that has been a favorite weekend retreat of governors for years.

Two other helicopter trips included stops at estates in the Charlottesville area, according to the flight log.

One of the trips to Camp Pendleton last month included a stop at Albemarle Farms, the sprawling estate of John and Patricia Kluge near Charlottesville, the newspaper said.

Kluge was the largest single contributor to Wilder's gubernatorial campaign; Patricia Kluge, who separated from her billionaire husband about two months ago, was named by Wilder to the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia earlier this year.

Dillard has said she does not include on Wilder's public schedule any trips he makes for political fund-raisers that are closed to the public.