Georgetown, Del., March 13, 2007: Sussex County Council has agreed to acquire a 10,000-square-foot hangar at the Sussex County Airport near Georgetown that will eventually serve as a training center for students learning to become specialized aircraft mechanics.

County Council, at its March 13, 2007, meeting, approved an agreement that will shift ownership of the hangar from Georgetown Air Services to the County. The hangar, built in the late 1990s, is currently leased to Kimble’s Aviation, an aircraft repair operation.

In the agreement, Georgetown Air Services will transfer the hangar to the County for $25,000 plus the cancellation of a $400,000 loan the County extended to the building’s original owner. The County will lease the hangar to Kimble’s Aviation for six months, until mid-August. At that time, Kimble’s Aviation will move to another location at the airport where the company will construct its own hangar.

County Administrator David B. Baker said the County’s acquisition of the hangar is necessary to accommodate a new training program for airframe mechanics at Delaware Technical & Community College.

Sussex County Council, DelTech and PATS Aircraft LLC announced last fall a partnership to create an airframe mechanics associate’s degree program as part of the curriculum offered at the college. The program would train students to become airframe mechanics, who service all parts of an airplane, with the exception of the engine, propeller and instruments. No such program exists in Delaware today.

While DelTech would provide the curriculum and training, with PATS Aircraft lending technical assistance and other resources, Sussex County has agreed to provide classroom and practical laboratory space for the training program. The Council’s approval of the hangar acquisition will allow the County to now provide that space.

“Sussex County is following through on its pledge,” County Administrator David B. Baker said. “It is our hope that with this space, students will have the classroom and lab space they need to get the hands-on experience and training necessary for these highly skilled, manufacturing-type jobs.”

Mr. Baker said students who come through the new program will help to fill much-needed jobs at local companies like PATS, a firm that installs auxiliary fuel tanks in large corporate jets. The program, he said, will strengthen local businesses by supplying highly skilled employees, and would, at the same time, expand educational opportunities for Sussex County residents.

Mr. Baker said the County will renovate the hangar later this year so that it is suitable for the DelTech program. Training is expected to begin at the hangar by the fall of 2008.