Fed Ex Delivers 727 Jet To Sacramento City College

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - You talk about a big time gift; well it's now hands-on training for students at Sacramento City College after a generous donation from Federal Express.

A Boeing 727 touched down in front of a few hundred people on Friday at McClellan Park.

"It's an incredible opportunity, its going to be amazing," one student said.

The students now get to actually work on a real plane.

"A lot of our training is actually on mockup boards. Now we're going to get to see all these working parts on an actual airplane," student Karl Frantzreb said.

Fed Ex donated the 727 after 21 years in service.

"Now it's kind of set in," student Nick Ware said. "At first it was kind of like that when they told us we were going to be getting a 727, I was like ,'What? That's crazy.'"

A Fed Ex official said the company enjoys giving back to the industry and to help train the next generation of aviation professionals. Sac City College was the prefect fit.

Fed Ex assistant general ganager David Sutton said, "We looked at geographic distribution, we looked at the programs, we looked at how the aircraft would be used in their programs and enhance their educational initiatives, and so we picked a school and are very pleased with the choice."

And it is the 63rd time Fed Ex has donated one of its planes since it began the program in 2007.

The 727 will remain on the runway until this summer. That's when it will be moved to the museum airport where the students will use it for training.