Has Tried To Sell The Aircraft For More Than Two Years

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) may finally have a buyer for its 1998 Sikorsky S-76C+ helicopter after more than two years of trying.

The News & Observer newspaper reports that the state tried to sell the aircraft multiple times on eBay, first in May of 2014 and again in June the same year after the state general assembly demanded that the helicopter be sold . On the first attempt, there were no bidders for the aircraft, which was listed at $2.25 million, and on the second attempt, they received only one bid of $1.5 million.

But the state may have finally located a buyer for the seven-passenger helicopter, as well as a competing offer for a deal that would swap the existing helo for one that the state would find more useful, according to the report.

The outright buyer would be Streamline Industries of Deer Park, TX. NCDOT aviation director Bobby Walston sent a letter to the company in December stating that the asking price for the helo is $2.25 million. The swap offer came from the Murray Energy Corporation in St. Clairsville, OH. The have proposed a straight-up trade of the S-76C+ for a 2004 Bell 427 helicopter. Since the North Carolina Highway Patrol also flies Bell helicopters, the aircraft could be shared between the DOT and the State Patrol, according to the report.

The sale of the helicopter, as well as a Cessna 550 Citation Bravo, were mandated by the legislature as a cost-cutting measure.

(Image from file. Not NCDOT helicopter)

FMI: www.ncdot.gov