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."

FMI: www.slcc.edu