Education is taking off in Kansas City -- perhaps literally.
Thanks to a team of dedicated aviation professionals, a Lockheed L-1011 Jumbo Jet is about to soar to new heights with a brand new mission.
A crew brought the plane from Tucson just a few days ago. Now, the renovation process begins. By the fall, this aircraft will be a classroom unlike any other.
Students will be able to not only study the elements of the STEM education platform, they’ll be able to see science, technology, engineering and math in real-world action.
Mark Mesler, a flight engineer who was part of the crew that flew the plane here, says our society needs young people knowledgeable in those areas to keep the world of aviation moving forward.
This particular plane has quite a history.
For years it was a flying hospital, providing medical care for people in all parts of the world.
Thousands of operations took place on board and tens of thousands patients were treated.
However, after the plane was retired from that kind of mission some 16 years ago, it sat unused.
That’s where TriStar Experience came in and decided to make this space something special, once again. TriStar Experience is a group created to save and preserve iconic jet aircraft.
They are hoping to inspire young people with great teaching tools and plenty of “Eureka!” moments in the years ahead.
And this plane is something of movie star, too. It has been featured in several films including Ali, the 2001 biographical film about professional boxer Muhammad Ali.
It is fitting that a plane that played a role in a movie about The Greatest will, now, be one of greatest places for learning.
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