Mon, Nov 28, 2005
Students Use Airframe To Learn About Composites
While it's lamentable
nearly all the 53 sleek Beechcraft Starships built will never see
the skies again, it's nice to hear one airplane has been saved from
the scrap pile and given a new lease on life: as a training tool
for students at Utah's Salt Lake Community College.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Raytheon (Beechcraft's
current owner) donated the Starship -- sans engines, and in pieces
-- to give students in the school's aircraft technician program the
opportunity to gain hands-on experience with carbon-fiber composite
airframes -- cutting edge in the 1990s, but increasingly
commonplace today. In particular, students will use the airframe to
hone their skills in material repair techniques.
The aircraft in question had a short life in the air: it only
flew about 2,000 hours, according to the Tribune, before several
factors grounded the Starship fleet in 2003. Most have been bought
back by Raytheon since production ended in 1995, to be later
destroyed.
Only four Starships continue to fly today -- including the chase
aircraft that was used on the flights of SpaceShipOne (file photo,
below).
While the SLCC Starship arrived at the college in pieces -- the
wing was separated from the fuselage, and the engines are missing
-- it will continue to "fly" by teaching the next generation of
aircraft mechanics skills they'll need to work in the rapidly
expanding field of aircraft maintenance, according to SLCC
instructor Steve Mendiola and Brian Williamson, coordinator of
SLCC's aircraft mechanics program.
"A mechanic can work around the world," said Williamson. "I've been
from the equator to the Arctic. I've been to places I've never
dreamed of, and some I'd never go back to."
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