AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University President Steven Leath damaged a private plane in a hard landing in 2014, 11 months before he banged up a university aircraft in remarkably similar fashion, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Leath was flying in gusty conditions on Aug. 11, 2014 and “landed hard” in a crosswind, causing propeller damage that he discovered the next day, according to university records released under the open records law.
The documents show that the university didn’t fully disclose information about both incidents in its application for aviation insurance earlier this year. It’s not clear whether this might affect the policy, which covers millions of dollars in liability and damage for both university planes. The policy, which cost $51,000 in premiums, contains a warning that it will be voided “if you have concealed or misrepresented any material fact.”
Despite the 2014 incident, Leath was cleared to fly solo on the university’s newly purchased Cirrus SR22 single-engine plane just two months later, records show. Leath damaged that $498,000 plane in a hard landing in July 2015 in Bloomington, Illinois, while he and his wife were flying home from a North Carolina vacation. He also blamed that incident on windy conditions.
AP’s revelation of that accident and other questionable trips by Leath, a private pilot, has prompted the Iowa Board of Regents to conduct an audit of university flights. Authorities are awaiting the audit’s conclusions before determining whether to open a criminal investigation of Leath, who paid back $17,500 for accident costs and vowed to stop flying himself. Leath has expressed regret but denied violating policies or a law barring the use of state assets for private gain.
Leath’s spokeswoman, Megan Landolt, declined to identify the plane Leath was flying during the August 2014 landing and where it happened. She said no school resources were involved in the incident, which came to light six months later when he listed a “hard landing with prop damage” on his pilot history in the university’s 2015 insurance application.
Learning about the 2014 incident “surprised us as it was not reported to our office at the time it occurred,” Deb Cramer, an insurance coordinator at the university’s risk management office, wrote in a February 2015 email obtained by AP. She asked the university’s insurance agent, LMC Insurance and Risk Management, whether the incident had to be disclosed on the application as an aviation loss.
