Aviation Facilities and Fleet | Southern Illinois University

Aviation Facilities and Fleet

The Transportation Education Center (TEC) is equipped to provide our students access to some of the best training equipment available. Our flight training fleet features multiple Cessna and Piper airplanes, while the maintenance training fleet features multiple helicopters and airplanes ranging from piston singles to jet aircraft.

Instructional facilities include a 60,000 square-foot hangar and classroom building. Additionally, a 12,000 square-foot Helicopter Laboratory houses the aircraft used within the Helicopter Maintenance specialization. Airline-type cockpit procedure trainers, an advanced composite structures laboratory, and on-site computer laboratory add to our cutting-edge simulation and hands-on learning spaces.

The TEC is located at the Southern Illinois Airport (KMDH), just northwest of the city of Carbondale — two miles west of US Highway 51 and two miles north of Illinois Route 13. The airport sits on 750 acres near the beautiful Shawnee National Forest and offers a full host of services, including an air traffic control tower which operates from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Airplanes

The SIUC Aviation flight training fleet is composed primarily of Cessna aircraft. Three Piper Arrows support advanced training in the flight program and allow students to transition into more complex aircraft as their training progresses. The fleet includes:

• Seven (7) Cessna 152
• Six (6) Cessna 172N/P Skyhawk
• Seven (7) Cessna 172R Skyhawk
• Five (5) Cessna 172S Skyhawk With G1000 Flight Deck and Autopilot
• Five (5) Cessna 172R Skyhawk With G1000 Flight Deck
• Three (3) Piper Arrow with G500TXI
• Three (3) Cessna 310R [Multi-engine training, high-performance]
• One (1) Cessna 340 [Executive Air Transportation course]
• One (1) Cessna 421 Golden Eagle [Executive Air Transportation course]

Flight Simulation

SIU Aviation utilizes a variety of flight training devices (FTD) to supplement student training throughout all stages of the curriculum.

• Three (3) Frasca 141
• One (1) Frasca 142
• Three (3) Frasca 172 TrueFlight FTD with visual display
• One (1) Frasca CRJ 200 Level V FTD with visual display
• One (1) Redbird XwindSE Crosswind Trainer