A T17 in the URJC

The Ministry of Defense has ceded one of its non-operational aircraft to be used by URJC students in their practices and activities.

Nora Fernandez Fernandez

The Rey Juan Carlos University has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Defense for the transfer of a T17 aircraft with its engines to be used as teaching material by the educational community.

The ratification of the agreement was carried out by Javier Salto Martínez-Avial, Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Army, and Javier Ramos, rector of the URJC.

Laboratory 6 of the Fuenlabrada campus will be the place where the plane will be located, which will be used especially in the practices of the degrees related to aerospace engineering.

However, Fernando García Muiña, Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Transfer of the URJC, assures that “the plane is transferred to all the students, regardless of the degree they are studying. Logically there will be students and researchers who take more advantage of it, but this is a good for the entire university community and a very valuable resource that makes the URJC unique”.

The plane, which was decommissioned for military service, is equipped with all the necessary engines and parts. This collaboration between the URJC and the Ministry of Defense could be described as an "example of circular economy", as García Muiña points out. "An asset that no longer has much value in its main context, value it at the university and use it at the service of teaching and research."

T17inside

Already in 2021, both institutions signed a General Action Protocol to carry out activities of common interest in the field of academic, scientific and cultural cooperation. “This signing means continuing to promote synergies between public entities and improving the already consolidated relationship with the Ministry, which demonstrates the closeness and benefit it has for both”, comments the Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Transfer.

The value of this resource is not so much economic but specific and unique; Having an aircraft of these characteristics facilitates the access of students and teachers to quality laboratory practices that will improve everyone's experience.