Charges surface from time to time that millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted through unnecessary or extravagant travel. Government at all levels needs to keep a handle on official travel. Vigilance is especially vital at federal level because of the countless bureaus and difficult task of coordination, Recently the General Accounting Office has cited allegedly-extravagant flight expenses by Federal Aviation Administrator J. Lynn Helms as one example of how officials are spending money unnecessarily by using government aircraft instead of commercial airlines. Testifying before a House govemment operations subcommittee, Donald Horan of the GAO said Helms used an FAA aircraft to travel around the country at a cost of $417,000. The’ travel would have cost less than $13,000 had he flown commercially, it was claimed, Rep. Frank Horton, RN.Y., a subcommittee member, suggested Helms just wanted to see firsthand what airtraffic control conditions were like at the nation’s airports; and an FAA spokesman said the administrator’s use of govemment aircraft has been on official business only and in accord with regulations of the agency. The GAO asserted, according to news accounts, that among Helms’ official business flights were two to Alaska, accompanied by his wife and daughter, in which he left the FAA’s Lockheed Jetstar at Anchorage and chartered another aircraft for additional travel, at an over-all cost of around $100,000 to the government. The House subcommittee should investigate the Helms case and confirm or disprove allegations of abuse. Reports of waste and unnecessary travel in other agencies also should be examined in an even-handed manner. The practice of using government planes when commercial flights will do the job at a fraction of the cost ought to be one of the first items examined. Two years ago then Rep. Charles Grassley, R-lowa (now a U. S. senator) charged that federal travel cost the taxpayers nearly $3 billion in 1979, averaging close to $1,500 for each of the government’s two million full-time employees, That’s a lot of travel. We have no figure on the current annual outlay but compliance with travel regulations and the adequacy of the regulations themselves should be monitored on a regular basis.