Although Central Kitsap School District employee Don McConaghy sits behind the wheel of a school bus while working, on his personal time he drives a smaller vehicle — one of the new aluminum-bodied Ford F-150 pickup trucks.

McConaghy said he had previously worked in the Navy for over 24 years working on machinery and doing security work.

He bought the grey-colored truck at Parr Ford in Bremerton in December — one of the very first all-new F-150s sold in the state.

“They actually told me when I test drove it I was the first one to drive it off the lot,” McConaghy said.

The use of aluminum instead of steel for large portions of the vehicle is unusual in the automotive world. A few other light-duty vehicles such as Audi’s A8 also use significant amounts of aluminum in their construction.

The strength and light weight of aluminum means the new F-150 is up to 700 pounds lighter than the previous more traditionally-built model.

The lighter weight means fuel economy and towing capacity can be increased.

But McConaghy said it wasn’t the aluminum structure, but the truck’s adaptive cruise control — a feature that some newer vehicles have that enables them to automatically pace behind another vehicle — that caught his eye.

His parents have a car with the same technology, and McConaghy decided he had to have it, too.

It’s a feature he’d like to see on the school bus.

“The bus doesn’t do that, unfortunately. It would be nice,” he said.