The arrival of two new aircraft to College of the North Atlantic’s Gander fleet will keep its students on the frontlines of technology as they hone their skills as aircraft maintenance and repair technicians.
The aircraft, a King Air 350 Air Ambulance and a Cessna 337 Spotter Aircraft, were donated by the provincial government’s Air Services division and are valued at approximately $750,000. The two aircraft were decommissioned by Air Services this fall as both have maintenance issues that would be expensive to bring the aircraft back into flying condition – but that doesn’t mean they can’t be of use!
Gander Campus Administrator, Bob Dwyer says the aircraft are recently out of service and while not currently airworthy they are in great shape and perfect for training students enrolled in the Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Technician and Aircraft Structural Repair Technician programs. The aircraft are fitted with avionics and engine technology the college did not have access to before, so the investment will enhance program offerings by providing hands-on experience on these aircraft.
“The students and instructors that volunteered to help us move the aircraft were very excited and can’t wait to get their hands on them – they were like kids at Christmas!” said Dwyer. “Students actually started using the aircraft Monday as they complete electrical system inspections in one of their courses.”
First year Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Technician student, Mitchell Mendoza, was looking forward to getting his hands on the new gear.
“We are all really excited about getting to work on these two new aircraft,” said Mendoza. “They just came out of service and represent technology that is being used today, which is an improvement over some of the older aircraft that were already here at the college.”
Dwyer says the donation was a natural fit as the campus has worked with industry representatives and with Air Services over the past decade on a number of projects.
“We have a very close relationship with Air Services, most of their maintenance staff trained with us, we still do employee development training for them and a few of our instructors used to work there,” said Dwyer. “Our students go there for field trips and they transferred the last King Air that was decommissioned to us in 2001 – so there are all kinds of connections.”
The move was two weeks in the making with many local partners playing an instrumental role in bringing the aircraft from Gander International Airport to the campus on the other side of town, following a route approximately seven kilometres long. For safety reasons, the move was scheduled to take place at 6:30am on Sunday morning to ensure that traffic and pedestrian amounts were at their lowest.
“We used Kings Transport, a trucking company with experience in oversized loads, to help orchestrate everything,” said Dwyer. “The Town of Gander supplied the police escort, and the town’s department of municipal works helped with sanding the roads and moving some signs. The Gander Airport Authority was a big help in getting the aircraft off the airport as a part of the perimeter fence had to be temporarily removed to get the aircraft off the property.”
In addition to the two new aircraft, Gander campus already has Bell 206 and Bell 47-G4 helicopters, and King Air 100, Piper Aztec, Piper Super Cub, Cessna 172, Cessna 150 aircraft in the hanger that are used for day-to-day instruction. There are also fuselages and major sections of Boeing 737-200, Dash 8-100 and Cessna 150 aircraft that are used as training aids.
To learn more about College of the North Atlantic’s Aircraft Structural Repair Technician and Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Technician programs visit www.cna.nl.ca or watch the program videos on CNA’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/CNAmarketing.
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Media Contact:
Roger Hulan
Communications Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7938
roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca