Safety Profile: Duke Energy – 60 Year Safe Flying Achievement Award Recipient

February 7, 2014

Safety Unites Diverse Operations

The flight department at Duke Energy traces its history through 60 years of mergers and acquisitions to the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company, said Phil Kanagy, director of corporate flight operations. Back then it had two bases, in Houston and Kansas City, and it flew two Beech 18s, a Howard 250 and 500. Now, a fleet of six jets and five helicopters serves the transportation needs of the largest power holding company in the United States.

Duke Energy serves 7.2 million electric customers and 500,000 gas customers in a service area that covers approximately 104,000 square miles in the Southeast and Midwest. Powered by a mix of coal, nuclear, natural gas, oil, and renewable resources, the company generates approximately 57,700 megawatts of electricity in the Carolinas, Midwest and Florida. Its natural gas distribution network supplies Ohio and Kentucky. And Duke’s commercial and international businesses own and operate diverse power generation facilities and renewable energy assets in North and Latin America.

To serve its vast and diverse needs, Duke has two aviation facilities. Executive support is located at the company headquarters in Charlotte, NC. In its fleet there are a Falcon 2000LX, two Challenger 300s, a Citation XLS+, a Hawker 750, and an Agusta 109 helicopter, which will soon be succeeded by an Agusta 139. The four Bell 407 helicopters used for powerline patrol are based in Plainfield, IN, on the southeast edge of Indianapolis.

Most of the department’s 42 personnel are based at Charlotte, said Kanagy, and most of their destinations are in the United States, but they do make eight to 10 flights a year to different parts of the globe.

Over six decades of evolution, “dedicated professionals who take their jobs seriously” have earned the department’s accident-free record through their “drive to continuously improve,” he said. “The IS-BAO process has helped us be more organized and deliberate and to actively manage safety, but it still comes down to individuals who are never satisfied with where we are at but are always striving to do better.”