Small-plane travel part of life in college basketball

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Commercial air travel is the norm for athletes in some big-city college conferences, but that doesn't work out here where the distances are vast and many of the cities small.

Members and staff of the Oklahoma State basketball team were flying home Saturday from Colorado in a private, propeller-driven airplane when it crashed in a snowstorm 40 miles east of Denver, killing all 10 people aboard. Two other airplanes used by the school, both small jets, safely delivered the rest of the team home.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Stillwater Municipal Airport manager Gary Johnson said the night of the crash that the doomed Beechcraft King Air would have been less likely to get above bad weather than the jets.

Most schools in small-city leagues like the Big 12 and the Southeastern Conference charter airplanes when they travel. But even in the Big 12, Oklahoma State is one of only a few schools that fly small planes such as the one that crashed.

Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton has long flown on small, private aircraft donated for his team's use by friends or supporters of the program.

The system has offered a low-cost, flexible way to get players to games, and back to school in time for classes and tests.

Many schools choose charter air travel rather than commercial.

Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins formerly coached at UNC-Charlotte, a member of the big-city Conference USA. His teams flew commercially most of the time, but now the Aggies use a 40-passenger charter as needed, particularly for midweek games.

"When school's in session, you want to keep the class cuts to a minimum, and charter makes that much easier," he said. "It's convenient to fly right out of College Station (Texas) right to Stillwater, then you can fly back and be back in class the next day."

The Kansas Jayhawks fly commercially and use a 30-passenger charter jet on occasion.

"If it's a game through the week where it's a significant difference (in travel time) and a significant distance, we will charter," said Kansas coach Roy Williams.

The issue of how teams get to games is an institutional one, and doesn't fall under the auspices of the NCAA.

As conferences have grown, so has the need for air travel. Dave Bliss, now at Baylor of the Big 12, formerly coached at Southern Methodist University, which then was in the Southwest Conference.

He also coached at New Mexico, a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

"The Southwest Conference was a much easier travel conference," he said. "When you're dealing with the WAC, you're dealing with large cities -- San Diego, Honolulu, Salt Lake City.

When you're in the Big 12, it's essentially a small-city league, and hence the need for charters."

Bliss said that the use of charter planes is so prevalent that coaches are besieged during the offseason by companies offering their services.

Missouri coach Quin Snyder flew by jet as a player and assistant coach at Duke. When he got to Missouri, he found that the team used small planes to travel to conference games, much like Oklahoma State. The Tigers now use a 32-seat jet.

"It's something that's been a concern of mine, frankly, wanting to keep all the players on one plane together," he said.

"They switched for many reasons," said Missouri spokesman Chad Moller, "including convenience and safety,"

Oklahoma State University's next road game will be at Nebraska on Feb. 6.

Oklahoma State sports information director Steve Buzzard said there were no plans for the team to depart from its normal use of small private airplanes. He said the planes are safe and the pilots are good.

"I would expect it to be status quo," he said.