The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

OTTUMWA,IOWA -- Indian Hills Community College got to show off its new state-of-the-art flight simulator Thursday.

Flight instructors from the school were showcasing the simulator to students and gave them hands on training.

Members from the Federal Aviation Administration were on hand to make sure it follows federal guidelines; as well as see its features. The $87,000 simulator is the first of its kind in the state of Iowa.

Indian Hills Assistant Chief Flight Instructor Jim Anderson believes its a new wave of hands on education.

"We're going to use this especially on weather days when we cant fly the airplane. We can at least get some students in here and do some basic instrument training, commercial training, and primary training."

Anderson also says its environmentally friendly.

"We're not using any gas. It plugs into a standard wall outlet so it uses a little bit of electricity. An hour in the plane we can probably do the same training in about seven-tenths of an hour here. We dont have to go out and start, take off in position to the practice area. We can just take the simulator and position it where we want."

For more information about the flight simulator, or the aviation program at Indian Hills, visit http://www.indianhills.edu/