Just four miles from Manassas Regional Airport, the busiest General Aviation airport in Virginia, students at Unity Reed High School in Prince William County are learning the aviation maintenance trade courtesy of a donated aircraft to the school. The aircraft will allow the students to gain hands-on maintenance experience in a trade that is experiencing a critical manpower shortage nationwide.
Scott Kenney, an Aviation Maintenance teacher at Unity Reed High School and Woodbridge High School, said the aircraft is a Viking Dragonfly, a two-seater plane with a cockpit less than four feet across. Summit Helicopters, a Salem, Va.-based company, donated the aircraft. Kenney said he was “very happy” to receive the donation and that it would help enhance students’ education and interest in aviation maintenance.
