Engine donation gives AAC students ‘leg up’

Jerry Northway and Noli Sucgang looked at the helicopter engine sitting in the lobby at the Alabama Aviation College and smiled.

Both are instructors at the college, part of the Enterprise State Community College system. Both will be training students on the new Arriel 1E2 helicopter engine donated to the college by Safran Helicopter Engines USA Sept. 27.

“This is a new engine that is maintenance-friendly so that we can remove (modules) without having to pull the whole engine apart to get to it,” Northway, an aviation maintenance power plant instructor said as he surveyed the engine sitting on a pull trailer in the middle of the lobby. “This engine is in the Lakotas on Fort Rucker but besides that, the engine is on many commercial aircraft so we are preparing students for future jobs all over the world.”

Alabama Aviation College Campus Director Stan Smith agreed. “What an awesome day,” he said thanking the Safran Helicopter Engines USA team for the donation. “Here at the Alabama Aviation College, we want to improve every single day and part of that improvement is this new engine,” he said. “We will be able to give our students a head start for working in the civilian industry and at Fort Rucker. They’ll have a leg up on everyone else looking for a job.

“Instructors will teach using the Safran engine in the Turbine Engine Systems Theory Course,” Smith said. “Upon completion, students will be able to explain turbine engine theory and operating principles, describe procedures for 100-hour and borescope inspections and perform a hot section inspection on this modular turbine engine.”

Enterprise State Community College President Matt Rodgers called the donation a “a great example of true partnership.

“We feel like we are the pipeline not only to Fort Rucker but also all over the world,” Rodgers said. “We are very proud of that fact and this particular engine will benefit not only for this region but also other parts of the world.”

“Approximately 24 months ago, Enterprise Mayor William Cooper and I began meeting with representatives from Safran Helicopter Engines USA to discuss their work on the UH-72 Lakota training helicopter at Fort Rucker,” said Wiregrass Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Jonathan Tullos, explaining how the donation came to be. “Then about 18 months ago, when Safran Engines USA CEO Thierry Derrien made a visit to Fort Rucker, Mayor Cooper and I had dinner with him and his team to talk about the needs of Fort Rucker and how we can help support this new fleet of Lakotas that was coming into Fort Rucker.

“Through that conversation we found out that there was a need at the aviation college and in the community to train folks on this engine,” Tullos said, adding that at that point a plan was devised which became reality with the presentation Sept. 27.

“Knowing that we had students in this area that could benefit from training on this engine, we knew that we had to figure out how in the world could we get the engine here,” Cooper said. “We appreciate the donation today from this very fine company.”

“Flight safety is our first and most priority here at Safran Engine USA,” Derrien said. “I think by the donation of this engine to the aviation college, we give the opportunity to future maintainers to get experience on the real thing.”