Bering Air donates airplane to UAF student mechanics program

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – An Alaska commuter airline has donated an aircraft for training student mechanics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports Bering Air Inc. donated a 1978 King Air 200 to UAF’s Community and Technical College.

Associate professor Kevin Alexander says it’s the first large commercial aircraft donation since the facility received a FedEx 727 jet in 2013.

Alexander says it’s much smaller than the jet but large for an aircraft serving rural Alaska.

He says the King Air 200 will be a huge improvement over equipment the program now has.

The airplane has logged 22,840 flight hours and more than 6 million miles (9.7 million kilometres) flown.

Bering Air officials say the airplane completed thousands of medevac flights, charter flights and flights to Russia.