Aeronautics program receives new engine

Amanda Sowards

The College of Technology received a new engine for its aeronautics program from the Army yesterday.

The UH-1 jet engine arrived at the Kent State University Airport via a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and a four-man crew. All 1,100 pounds of the engine and its transportation container were unloaded and moved by tractor into the main hangar where it will be mounted onto a mobile stand.

The UH-1 will end its tour and make its home in Van Deusen Hall with the seven other engines already in the building, said Isaac Nettey, senior academic program director. Of the seven, two are cut-aways, showing the internal workings of the equipment. The UH-1 will remain whole for students in propulsion and flight dynamics classes to study the three stages of turbine engines.

“The engine is a tremendous asset,” Nettey said. “(It will) give an additional practical edge to theoretical instruction.”

The engine was donated by the Army Aviation Supply Facility Number One out of the Akron-Canton Airport. Colonel Blaine Wyckoff initiated the donation in August and finished the paperwork and approval last week. The UH-1 was being used for training for a Huey aircraft that was no longer in use at the facility. Wyckoff, a Kent State alumnus and former employee, said he knew the program would want the engine since he no longer needed it.

The engine was the second donation made by Wyckoff and the Army Aviation Supply Facility. Last year he donated an instrument panel for use in class instruction.

“This represents an important partnership between the aeronautics program at Kent State and industry and military,” Nettey said.

According to the General Services Administration, the UH-1 that was donated is worth $572,636.

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