Instructors in Northwest’s Aviation Maintenance Technology program received a large gift in the way of a 7,000-pound Pratt and Whitney JT8 turbofan jet engine, courtesy of FedEx Corporation. The engine, which is used primarily on 727 aircraft, was delivered to the Olive Branch campus June 1 and has an estimated value of $1 million.

“Frosty Arnold, manager of the structures shop at the FedEx Maintenance Facility, set up a tour for our students,” said DeSoto Center Dean Richie Lawson. “Instructors Tommy Douglas and Larry Purviance asked about the possibility of FedEx donating an engine to our program. Mr. Arnold pursued the request with Jose Pereira, managing director of Propulsion Mx, who ultimately arranged for the donation of the engine.”

According to Douglas, the monstrous piece of machinery is just what the program needs. “We have never had a modern fan engine as they are cost prohibitive, so the students have not been able to work on any modern engine that they would find in industry,” he said. Included with the engine was a complete set of CD-ROMs containing overhaul procedures and parts breakdown for students to reference.