UAA welcomes donated Boeing 727 jet from FedEx

On Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m., a Boeing 727 donated by FedEx, will land at Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage after its short flight from the Ted Stevens International Airport.* The pilots of the 727 will do up to two flyovers before landing at Anchorage's in-town runway.

Public viewing of the landing will be available from the Northway Mall parking lot, just off of Penland Parkway.

Over the past decade, FedEx has made it corporate practice to assist schools, museums and airport fire departments by donating jets to support their educational missions.

This donated Boeing 727 airliner will be used in the aviation maintenance program at UAA. The jet that UAA is receiving took its first flight on Feb. 14, 1979. It will be housed at the UAA Aviation Technology Center at Merrill Field Airport. The plane will no longer fly, but will be used by students for hands-on training as they learn transport category aircraft maintenance. The 727, dubbed "Two Bears," is named after the now-grown son of Hugo Yturralde, a FedEx manager in Anchorage for more than 28 years.

*Weather permitting.