Boeing 727 Transformed Into St. Paul Classroom
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When some Twin Cities students return to school this fall, they'll get to experience a unique new classroom.
Only this one has wings and wheels and is parked at one end of St. Paul's Holman Field.
"We've left the cargo door in operation here," explains Steve Hurvitz, who is in charge of renovating the cargo plane.
Hurvitz feels like a kid again, turning a mode of transport into one for teaching.
"We going to tell the kids to find a rib number, find a stringer, find a hydraulic line, whatever," he said.
With a sharp whine and a loud roar, the Fed Ex cargo jet landed last October. Transforming it into a safe place for students meant paneling floors and walls, installing lighting and chairs.
But there are three chairs in particular that won't change -- those in the jet's cockpit.
Other than its three engines and landing gear, the plane will remain fully functional. The whole point of the learning jet is to bring kids into the cockpit and let them get the feel of flight.
That means pulling on the throttles and yoke, punching buttons and peering at the myriad of instrument panel gauges.
"For our knowledge, it's the first of its kind in the United States," says Cindy Schreiber, who heads aerospace curriculum for Farnsworth School.
Schreiber says that adding an actual jet to their lesson plans will make instruction in science, technology, engineering and math come alive.
"It's a tremendous experience for these students to be able to actually see and be on a jet," she said. "For so many of them, [they] never even have had that opportunity."
It's a classroom where daydreaming of flight will be a big part of the lesson plan.
