Decommissioned planes serve as training ground in high school

ANTALYA

A project has been initiated to place a helicopter in the yard of a high school, which already has one airliner and one fighter jet in front of it, in the Mediterranean province of Antalya’s Aksu district.

In 2017, a Boeing 737-400 type airliner was donated by a philanthropist to Aksu Aircraft Maintenance Technology High School, one of the vocational high schools in the country.

The plane, formerly operated by Sky Airlines, was decommissioned after a substantial damage in a landing accident caused by a right hand tyre burst at Antalya Airport in 2011.

There were 156 people and six crew on board, but no casualties had been reported. The planed was auctioned in 2013 after the airline filed for bankruptcy and ceased all flight operations.

Then, the Turkish Air Force gifted the school a decommissioned F-4 fighter that completed its flight life.

Students who get applied training on aircrafts are becoming more professional in technical fields such as aircraft body and engine.

Noting that their dream is to get a helicopter to the school in the next stage, Haldun Çevik, the school principal, said that he hopes his students will work in the production of domestic warplanes, unmanned aerial vehicles and training aircrafts in the future.

Çevik also announced that work is underway to purchase a helicopter.