The Department of Aerospace Engineering, Applied Mechanics and Aviation recently bought a Cessna 172RG for $73,000. The purchase of the aircraft was made possible through a gift from an individual, anonymous donor.The 20-year-old plane will be used to train pilots on “complex” aircrafts, an important rating for commercial flying. The newly purchased plane is considered complex because of its retractable landing gear and its propeller.The four-seat aircraft is nearly identical to another Cessna that Ohio State owns. “We wanted as close to an exact match as possible,” said Aircraft Fleet Manager Chuck Ventola.The Cessna 172RG was purchased from a California-based company, Silver Wings Aviation, after Ventola found it in Trade-A-Plane, a used-plane periodical.”I went out and picked up the airplane,” Ventola said. “That was a neat trip.”Ventola flew to Boulder City, Nev., to meet representatives from Silver Wings Aviation and inspect the plane. Ventola purchased it and flew the airplane back to Columbus. His trip home took longer than he expected.”I got grounded for a couple of days near Albuquerque because of bad weather, I planned on getting back to Columbus a lot sooner than I did,” Ventola said.Nearly 150 students are currently enrolled in OSU’s aviation program. About 60 are flying this quarter.With the recent addition, OSU owns 16 training aircrafts. Nine are two-seat Cessna 152s, two are standard four-seat Cessna 172s without retractable landing gear or complex propellors. The planes without the gear are used primarily for instrument training.There are now two Cessna 172RGs and a twin-engine Beechcraft Dutchess used for multi-engine training. Most commercial flights use multi-engine aircraft.Two are aerobatic aircraft, a Cessna 152 used primarily by the flight team in competition, and a German-made Grob, built out of composite materials. “We call it our plastic airplane,” Ventola said.