Penn College News

Aviation student's classwork shown in trade magazine

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

An image from O'Loughlin's cellphone, readily dropped into his class portfolio, affirms the ease of documentation.Excerpts from a student's portfolio accompany a faculty-written article in the May issue of Avionics News, published internationally by the Aircraft Electronics Association. The work of Corey S. O'Loughlin – an aviation maintenance technology major from Bethlehem – helpfully illustrates a Theory & Practice column by Thomas D. Inman, associate professor at Penn College's Lumley Aviation Center and a regular contributor to the magazine for more than a decade. "Keeping a log today is much easier than in the 1980s when I started working on aircraft. Now, thanks to tablets with cameras, spreadsheets and electronic storage, a technician has a real opportunity to create an aid that I could only dream," writes Inman in his "Keep a Notebook" piece. "I would find an old three-ring binder and fill it with blank pages. I would add notes and sketches on the pages in my rather poor handwriting. Today, you can snap a photo, and I encourage my students to do this. In addition, you can type something legible. Drawing tools are free, and you can make sketches using them."