Wichita State’s aviation research center gets Boeing plane to convert, overhaul
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An office with Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research is growing its initiative to maintain, repair and overhaul aircraft and will convert a Boeing plane.
The WERX location of the NIAR received its first Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft that workers will convert into a freight plane, the university announced Wednesday. It will then be transferred to a client in the e-commerce and express cargo market.
“This is an exceptional chance for the students to gain practical, real-world experience, working under the mentorship of experienced engineers and licensed mechanics,” Sheree Utash, president of WSU Tech, said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the growing program would impact employment numbers at the NIAR and in the region’s aviation industry.
The NIAR will convert the aircraft alongside the Kansas Modification Center, a new business aimed at meeting the aviation industry’s need for maintenance, repair and overhaul programs. It will own the aircraft Supplemental Type Certificate and license the conversions.
The new business is led by Jim Gibbs, who is the founder of a Rose Hill-based aerospace company, according to the company’s website.
Aside from jobs, the program to convert the 777 aircraft will allow students a hands-on learning opportunity in Wichita State’s College of Engineering and WSU Tech’s airframe and powerplant mechanics programs.
“This is a rare opportunity for students to gain experience working on an industry program alongside and under the guidance of NIAR’s seasoned team of experts,” Dave Jones, director of the NIAR WERX, said in a statement. “Our engineers have the unique chance to pass their combined 7,500 years of experience in design, production and testing on to the next generation of aviation professionals.”
The NIAR WERX modification facilities are near McConnell Air Force Base on Wichita’s south side. Generally, workers at the WERX location quickly implement methods to engineer, modify, test and certify new aircraft and modifications or overhaul.
The employees at the NIAR WERX perform structure and subsystems design; stress, fatigue and damage tolerance; avionics for both electrical and mechanical systems; flight sciences, external loads and structural dynamics and power plant and airworthiness certification.
Gov. Laura Kelly and Sen. Jerry Moran visited McConnell Air Force Base Wednesday for the announcement. In a statement, Kelly said the new collaboration fits in well with the state’s Framework for Growth, an economic development plan for Kansas developed by the Kelly administration.
The collaboration “will create new opportunities for commercial aviation while demonstrating the world-class sophistication of our state’s aviation experts,” Kelly said in a statement.
“There is no better state than Kansas to take full advantage of this project — the opportunity is tailor-made for our state and our aerospace assets.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 4:09 AM.
