Am I the only one who thinks this is a really bad idea, for about 4 seconds it might appear to be a good idea, ‘cool a shorts as a classroom’ but then surely the reality of the situation might start to sink in.
A)£20,000 seems alot for a clapped out airframe
B) It will be damn cold in Winter and hot in summer
C) whenever there is a storm it will try and take off and wreck the place
D) It will start to degrade rapidly without looking after and will start to look pretty terrible
E) It will then start to corrode and try and drop it’s wings on unsuspecting little timmies head one day
F) It will leak like a sieve
E) It will get torched by some yobs
I think someone hasn’t thought this one through!
By: hunterxf382 - 1st April 2009 at 07:32
I thought the Shorts 330/360 was actually based around the mobile classroom-Elliott hut/Portabin in the first place!
:diablo: That’s good….. :D:D:D
By: RAF Liberators - 1st April 2009 at 01:51
I think it’s a great idea. 20k is still half the price of the 40k for a proper hut, I don’t think the cold will be an issue, it has to be insulated, doesn’t it get quite cold up there in the clouds? 😉 and as someone else said think of the imagination of the children.
Personally I think you will find the teachers using it after school for some fantasy roleplaying 😉
By: RadarArchive - 31st March 2009 at 20:09
Most of the £20K will probably have been for the transport.
It certainly looks that way. It’s still listed on the Retro Aviation website for sale at £7,000 ex work and ex VAT.
By: *Zwitter* - 31st March 2009 at 19:33
Brilliant idea – anything that gets kids excited and even maybe interested in engineering is to be encouraged
By: Lindy's Lad - 31st March 2009 at 17:32
Most of the £20K will probably have been for the transport. It should make a useful training space – smartboard at the far end, single PC terminal for the staff member, and the possibilities for the children’s seating are huge. Primary school seats are very small – as I’m frequently reminded at parent’s evenings…… It will be possible to either have the seats in rows at 90 degrees to the normal, or have ‘airliner style’ seating (although smaller) with monitors in the seat backs slaved into the smartboard… awesome! Provided that it is correctly weather-proofed, it should last 10-20 years. Bear in mind that although they are saying the want the wings attached, they’ve cut through the spars – big job to repair or simpler to replace the complete wing and box… it will be supported, have adequate escape points and fire protection. Think of it as an aluminium box, not an aircraft.
Personally I think its a great idea. RIP one Shorts 330 for preservation, but it would have been scrapped anyway.
By: pogno - 31st March 2009 at 15:42
They might find theselves a bit short of space, in the blurb they say ‘As an education tool, an 82ft-long commercial airliner is a sure bet to take teaching to new heights’.
Except everywhere I look a 360 length is quoted as 70ft 10in, but thats modern education for you.
Richard
By: pagen01 - 31st March 2009 at 08:47
I can’t see it will be more problematic than any other form of mobile class room (a temporary form of class room).
I thought the Shorts 330/360 was actually based around the mobile classroom-Elliott hut/Portabin in the first place!
I do think someone knew what they were doing when they charged a school £20k for something like that.
By: Richard Smith - 31st March 2009 at 07:16
Perfect to take your mind off of a boring subject like Geography I would have thought. I’m sure it won’t be colder or leak any more than my old classroom. Lucky it’s not ex RyanAir as the kids would have to pay to use the loo.:)
By: lindoug - 31st March 2009 at 06:23
I’ll second that. I know that if the opportunity had come to me when I was a headteacher then I would have jumped at it. There is obviously a lot of enthusiasm and that’s a good starting point; and, having had a normal mobile classroom ‘torched by some yobs’ I think that’s an occupational hazard regardless.
By: Mondariz - 31st March 2009 at 04:45
I can’t see it will be more problematic than any other form of mobile class room (a temporary form of class room).
I assume the £20K includes transportation and kitting out for educational use.
Personally I think its a great idea. At least is show some level of imagination from the school administration, which should go down well with a bunch of imaginative kids. I would have loved this, when I went to school (but I had access to real RDAF C-47 flights, so from an aerospace angle, it might not have been top of my list).
True, it might not last as long as brickwork, but it doesn’t need to – its experimental. This sort of thing will always be temporary, even if a success. Once the school no longer needs it, its possible that some aviation group could take on the airframe as an exhibit.
Maybe they run into unforseen problems along the way (who doesn’t?), but I gotta give them a ten for trying.
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March 31, 2009 at 2:04 am