Purdue fleet

Beechjet 400A & 2 Kingair B200's. IAD is a typical destination. OnetoGo can give a better picture of usual ops with them.

It's my understanding the King Airs are being replaced by the Phenom and the Beechjet is staying since it's owned by the Purdue Research Foundation.

Not to mention you have to crawl to move around in the thing. It was pretty cool though.

Beechjet is not staying. In fact, it will likely be the first to go. It is losing value at the fastest rate. Also, there has been talk of keeping one BE20. Once the Phenom arrives, bye-bye Beechjet. Not that it really flies more than once a week anyway... Once the Phenom is delivered, PRF will take ownership of it. All three currently owned turbine airplanes will be gone. Typical BE20 destinations are much closer than GUNIT advertises. More in the 200-300nm range. Stuff like ORD, FWA, MDW are the most frequent flights. IAD flights only happen a few times per semester. Either way, this corporate travel stuff is pretty much going away completely. While the Phenom is being touted as taking this role, in reality it will not. Access to the jet will be extremely limited compared to what it is now for the turbine aircraft. My guess it will be restricted to the President's use and her staff ONLY. Current airplanes are used by the Dean's, athletic people, etc.

One of my professors said that everyone in the program would get 10 hours in the jet, and maybe a type rating out of the deal. He seemed pleased with the transaction. I got out of the program earlier this year, and switched to aviation management, so I won't get any time in any of the new planes.....

Oooooooooh yaaaaaaaaaa

good luck with cirrus, they are not a good trainer. they are not built for the training environment.

That's why I was :rotfl:

Purdue is not getting a dime from me now for flight training. If they think any sensible person wants to do their training in a Cirrus then they must have rocks in their head.

All their equipment, tools, and machinery is all for piper stuff. Why would they go to composite technology?

Correct. From a flight training standpoint, it is a horrible selection. As if the instruction here was not poor enough, as it is. However, from a marketing standpoint (seniors in HS see a cirrus 'ooh I wanna fly that one instead of Riddle's C172') it is brilliant. They will bill out more hours, at a higher price. Just like the school's awful stance on the ATP, this more is out of self-preservation, not out of hopes to improve training quality. Oh well, I'm outta here before they come!!

Every professor I flew with in the Beechjet seemed to be opposed to the idea of bringing in a Pheonom and letting the students tool around in it for 10 hours. As far as the Cirrus is concerned...you've got to be kidding me. The part-time instructors couldn't even teach Warrior systems let alone that of a Cirrus... I can't wait for these things to be parachuting out of the sky.

Since Purdue is a public school, they cannot up their flight costs for a few years. They can only increase the flight fees at an increment equal to that of tuition. That means that for the next 3-4 years, flying the Cirrus will be at the same price for the students as the Warriors. They won't be able to jack up the flight fees for awhile to offset the new fleet.

Hey, pass me the pitcher of kool-aid!!!

Tuition, yes. But we are talking about flight fees, which are billed ON TOP of tuition, essentially as a "lab fee".. the school can charge whatever it wants for lab fees.

When are the new planes supposed to arrive?

P.S. Any kid who PAYS to fly the Pheonom from LAF to MDW on a "training flight" is getting completely ripped off. At least the Beechjet pilots got a $2k scholarship....

Next fall. If you thought it hit the fan when they were soloing in the Pipers, hold on tight for the Cirri fleet. It'll be interesting. You'll miss it amd!

The Cirri fleet is going to be a mess....Hopefully they have the recog. lights like the Warriors so you can spot them while they are heading straight toward you on the wrong downwind. All I know is those guys in LAF Tower definitely dont make enough now!

In addition, Jeff better be updating the fleet to glass cockpits now that his customers will expect it!