Gail M.Zlotky

gzlotky@mtsu.edu

Gail Zlotky

Aerospace

Discipline specific equipment

AWS 103

New Technology

N/A

January 23, 2003 TAF The Department of Aerospace offers a variety of different pilot¡¦s licenses to our students. The purchase of an aircraft with amphibian floats would give our flight students an opportunity to obtain an additional rating, single-engine seaplane, which would significantly enhance their skills as a pilot and a flight instructor. Additionally, our students would be exposed to a significantly different type of aerodynamic characteristics, which will be analyzed in the department¡¦s aerodynamics class. Our maintenance students will also have an opportunity to study and inspect the major differences in the construction, reinforcement and maintenance procedures of a float plane. The existing technology of a float plane has never been accessible to our students. A float plane is significantly different from the training aircraft the students currently use. The new technology will allow twenty pilots per semester, i.e. sixty per year, to obtain a seaplane rating. It will also allow eighty-five maintenance students per year to receive specialized training. Fifty students per year will have access to the new aerodynamic data for analysis in the classroom. In addition to the skills our students will acquire, a float plane will help the Department of Aerospace address its mission statement by adding a new level of technology that will allow our students to build on their foundation as aviation professionals. The Aerospace department will also be able to pursue a partnership with the Seaplane Association and, thereby, exposing our students to a different group of aviation professionals. The aircraft would be based at the MTSU Flight School, located at the Murfreesboro airport, and maintained by the current airframe and power plant mechanics. Amphibian floats: Floats affixed with wheels that can be lowered so that the aircraft can land on paved runways and maintained at ground-based airports. Floats: equipment that is attached to an aircraft in place of the tires, to land on water at a seaport. ƒÁ A brochure has been sent to Watson Hannah and is available in her office.