Aviation Education With A "Big One"

Imagine, if you will, being a college or university aviation maintenance student who has spent innumerable hours training on small planes and corporate jets.

But, as an elderly woman was once hear to say, "Where's the beef?"

In terms of professional aviation education, that same infamous exclamation (for those of us of a certain age), could also refer to training on "the big ones," the planes on which a student will actually work once they graduate.

For the students at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, their dreams of training on large aircraft has been answered, with the donation of a Boeing 727-100 freighter from FedEx, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"This will help bridge the gap from working on smaller planes to bigger planes," said 21-year old student Sean Meladia.

Students have been working with smaller planes as well as corporate jets that seat about six people, said John Graham, president of the institute, where a ceremony accepting the FedEx freighter was held Thursday.

While corporate jets may have a wingspan of 63 feet, the average wingspan of a Boeing 727 is more than 100 feet, said David Sutton, managing director of aircraft acquisition and sales at FedEx Express.

"Most people hired will be working on airliners like this," said 22-year old student Greg Konrir.

For Pittsburgh-based FedEx Express's Mike Mannion, the gesture is a case of "trying to make a difference in our hometown."

The freighter will be used primarily to train aviation maintenance students how to fix and build jets. said Graham. Students will be working with the plane's hydraulics and pneumatics, among other things.

Work involving the plane will be integrated into the curriculum as much as possible and available to all students in many different majors, he said.

Graham said students should be able to begin working on the jet as soon as next week.

Although it is possible for the plane to fly, the institute was required to sign papers stating the plane would never be airborne. The aircraft is no longer registered with the FAA and is grounded for liability reasons, FedEx's Sutton said.

Memphis-based FedEx Express has been phasing out its 40-year-old 727-100 freighters in favor of 727-200 freighters for the past five years, Sutton said. The company had accumulated about 100 planes, which became more expensive to maintain than what the new models cost.

Although FedEx has sold a few of the planes for scrap metal, most have been donated to law enforcement agencies to train officers how to evacuate planes, and to schools and museums in the US, Canada, and overseas that display them. FedEx has been donating about 10 freighters annually.

"We wanted to give back to the aviation industry and train the next generation," Sutton said.

The plane the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics received is the next to last being donated, according to Sutton. FedEx is donating its final plane to the Paris Space and Air Museum at Le Bourget Airport.

FMI: www.pia.edu, www.fedex.com, www.mae.org