Airplane will give students hands-on experience
By Juliann Morris
April 6, 2023—Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) purchased a Cessna 172 airplane that students will use for hands-on training in the school’s aircraft maintenance program.
The plane arrived at Bowman Field last week and will be disassembled and transported to Shawnee.
The airplane will give students wrench-turning maintenance experience on a real aircraft, said Dixon Jones, Shawnee chief flight instructor.
"For every pilot, and for every plane that’s flying, you have to have a team—a full team—of aircraft maintenance technicians and mechanics to keep that plane flying in an air-worthy condition,” Jones said. “We’ve got an aircraft that we can do hands-on work with our students...This is just going to give us another tool to work and make their learning experience more robust."