UND Celebrates 40th Year By Looking To Past... And Future
On Wednesday, Cessna Aircraft
Company delivered the first Citation Mustang light jet to be used
by a flight school, to the University of North Dakota (UND). The
school will use the entry level jet for executive travel as well as
flight training for undergraduate and contract students.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of UND and the 40th
anniversary of the university's John D. Odegard School of Aerospace
Sciences (UND Aerospace) - an international leader in collegiate
and contract aviation education that averages more than 1,000
flight students at any given time. The flight school has more than
120 aircraft available to its students.
Total flight training hours at UND Aerospace exceed 100,000
annually and are estimated to approach 140,000 hours this year.
UND Aerospace celebrated the anniversary and Mustang delivery
with a social event in Wichita, KS. Alongside the Mustang, a newly
refurbished Cessna 150 -- one of the first two aircraft in UND
Aerospace's fleet -- was on display at the event. Both aircraft
were decorated with the school's 40th anniversary logo.
"Having the Citation Mustang and Cessna 150 side-by-side shows
the incredible progress that has been made in flight training in
the past 40 years," said Bruce A. Smith, dean of UND Aerospace and
president of the UND Aerospace Foundation. "We are excited to be
able to offer training in an aircraft that incorporates all the
latest technology available to pilots today. We expect the Mustang
to be a great recruiting tool for the school and an amazing
opportunity for students as they transition from pistons and
turboprops to flying jets."
"We're pleased to see UND Aerospace as the first flight training
school to have access to the new Citation Mustang," said Mick
Hoveskeland, Cessna's vice president, Administration and a UND
alumnus. "Whether they are moving to the airlines, charter flying
or corporate flight departments, students will get a kick start to
their careers by flying the large-format glass-cockpit flight
displays and integrated systems."
The Mustang became the first of a new category of entry-level
jets to achieve full certification from the Federal Aviation
Administration (September 2006) and the European Aviation Safety
Agency (May 2007). Forty-five Mustangs were delivered in 2007 from
Cessna's assembly facility in Independence, KS, where a total of
100 Mustangs are scheduled to be delivered this year.
By 2009, production is expected to reach 150 Mustangs per year,
according to Cessna.