Trainer Cargo Aircraft donated to Aviation Competence Centre
On 22 December this year, the NATO E-3A Component will bid a final farewell at Maastricht-Aachen Airport to the last TCA after its 23 years of faithful service. The official handover of the last TCA marks the definitive conclusion of this aircraft’s rich operational history, but it will begin a new career as a training asset in the professional training facility of the Aviation Competence Centre (ACC).
The aircraft will be handed over by the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force Commander, Major General Stephen D. Schmidt, to the company Aircraft End of Life Solutions (AELS), which in turn will hand over part of the airplane to the Aviation Competence Centre (ACC) for training purposes. This gift to the ACC was made possible by cooperation between NATO, the Dutch government, the investment and development company Limburgse Investerings- en Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (LIOF) and the aircraft recycling company AELS.
AELS is a Dutch firm specializing in the environmentally friendly disassembly and dismantling of aircraft and the performance of related services. Some of the parts of the TCA that do not go to the ACC will be re-used by AELS and the remainder will be recycled in an environmentally responsible manner.
For the ACC, as the prime centre for multi-year professional training courses for trainee aircraft maintenance technicians, the arrival of the TCA is another major step forwards. The donation of the last TCA will better enable the ACC to achieve its international ambition of training a sufficient number of professionally qualified staff for the European market. This involves aircraft maintenance companies working together to provide a “one-stop shop” for aircraft maintenance training.
In the past 23 years NATO’s TCAs were employed to provide operational transport to the various operational areas and to support humanitarian relief efforts in various locations, including Haiti and Pakistan. To replace the functions performed by the TCAs, transport services will be provided under contract by modern airplanes with quieter engines.
By donating and handing over the last TCA, NATO and the Dutch government are endorsing Limburg’s economic and educational interests.