Navajo’s airplanes: Luxuries or essential tools?

By Adriel Heisey
Aircraft Pilot
Air Transportation Department
Special to the Times

Passage of legislation last week for financing the purchase of new airplanes has sparked a surge of criticism on social media that I would like to address.

In times of very tight budgets and ever expanding needs, it is tempting to evaluate the airplanes purely on the basis of transportation costs. Would it not be cheaper to drive, take commercial airline flights, or even just teleconference? Yes, of course. But consider an expression we all know: penny-wise and pound-foolish. One meaning of this phrase is to be so concerned with small matters that one loses sight of the big picture.

The Navajo Nation is the leader of the Indian world in the United States. It is the largest in land area, in population, in Native language speakers, in wealth, in natural resources, and arguably in cultural vitality. It is the trailblazer and trendsetter in matters of Indian sovereignty, self-determination, and economic self-sufficiency. Unlike many native groups, it occupies its aboriginal homeland, and owns and controls vast natural resources.

The individuals who lead the Nation’s government, entities, and institutions are the key figures in this vanguard role. Although their salaries may be modest, their power to marshal resources, influence mainstream society, and compel change in the surrounding local, state, and federal governments is profound. This power, like any sort of power, can be misused, but at its best, it is the brightest hope of all Native people for a better world.

The wielding of this power is the truest role of the Navajo Nation airplanes; they enable all these leaders and their support personnel to be where the action is in their respective domains, quickly and efficiently. In an age of instant communications of amazing clarity and capacity, the impact of personal presence is especially strong, because it means that the people involved deem the matter at hand important enough to show up in person even when other alternatives are easily available.

The attributes that make Navajoland a special place can also handicap its leaders. Compared with many other parts of the country, travel within and off the Nation is time-consuming, if not difficult. The tribal airplanes overcome the handicap by drastically — almost magically — reducing the time its leaders waste in transit.

For Fortune 500 companies, the value of their top executives’ time is impressive, clearly understood, and easily calculated because of their large salaries. These figures are used to justify corporate aircraft. In the case of the Navajo Nation, the calculation is more complex, because the people traveling are public servants, and earn far less than their corporate counterparts. Yet their tasks are far more important than making a profit for shareholders.

The Gold King Mine spill is a recent example of how tribal aircraft are critically important. Although the airplanes were unseen by most, they flew countless trips on very short notice, thereby enabling Navajo leaders to act swiftly and nimbly in a fast-changing situation that had potentially severe consequences for the Nation, and thus benefitting all affected citizens in the broadest possible way.

The three Beechcraft King Air turboprops that the Nation owns and operates through its Air Transportation Department are perfectly suited to many of the missions the Nation undertakes, but they have aged. Our meticulous maintenance assures that they are still safe to fly, but they spend more and more time on the ground undergoing this careful scrutiny, and costs go up while they fly less and less.

Based on the decades of the King Airs’ proven performance and service, it makes good sense to simply replace the old airplanes (designated B200 and C90A) with new versions of the same models (now designated B250 and C90GTx).

However, business jets have undergone a revolution since the Nation bought its last new airplane in 1991. There are now small jets that are better than King Airs. They cost less to operate (due to a new generation of efficient turbofan engines); they are quieter (both outside and inside); they go farther, faster, higher; they require less maintenance, and they last longer.

If one of the King Airs were to be replaced by one of these new jets, up to 11 tribal leaders and key staff could board in Window Rock and fly directly to the United States capital in less than four hours.

This ease of access to Congress, the White House, and federal agencies has the potential to transform the Navajo Nation’s relationship with the federal government. It would allow the Navajo Nation Washington Office to better fulfill its mission to promote the Nation’s interests by mobilizing its key leaders at pivotal times, such as for critical meetings, hearings and votes, without keeping them away from their other important duties longer than absolutely necessary.

I and my colleagues at Navajo Air Transportation have a genuine interest in helping the Navajo Nation realize its goals as a sovereign nation. We believe that the acquisition of new airplanes is advisable in order to enable Navajo leaders (both present and future) to wield the Nation’s vast power in distant locations with the confidence befitting its stature.

We also believe that a state-of-the-art jet would give the Nation an unprecedented ability to project its power and influence any place and any time it chooses. Such a potent symbol and unique tool would surely be something every Navajo citizen could be proud of, because it would be used solely for the greater good of all Navajos.
Because of this, I suggest using the word “corporate” in corporate jet in its most positive sense: unified into one body to advance the collective interests of the greatest Indian nation in the country.

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