Iowa State sells ex-president's plane to alum for $450,000

Iowa State University has sold former president Steven Leath's airplane for $48,000 less than it paid three years ago.

ISU said Tuesday that it sold the Cirrus for $450,000.

ISU previously said it used donations to obtain the aircraft for an "exceptional price" of $498,000 in 2014. Leath pledged to unload it last year after an audit questioned dozens of flights he took for training. He'd already stopped piloting himself following revelations that he damaged it in a 2015 landing while on vacation. Now president of Auburn University, Leath predicted the sale would turn a profit.

The buyer is a corporation linked to Cedar Rapids businessman Dennis Munson, an ISU alum. Munson says he'll use the plane to fly to his logistics company's warehouses. Munson beat five other bidders with a proposal $71,000 higher than the second highest bid.