North Idaho College Aerospace Gains “Amphibs” 

Partnerships paid off in an unusual way for North Idaho College’s (NIC) aviation maintenance program recently.  Daren Fuller of Quest Aircraft Company and a member of NIC Aerospace’s advisory board, provided a solution to both his customer and NIC’s nascent aircraft maintenance program in late 2018.  He helped arrange the donation of a set of used amphibious aircraft floats to the NIC foundation.  “These will actually make great training aids” said instructor Earl Turner, “they have hydraulics, electrical systems, wheels, brakes, and are maintained to the standards of an aircraft, logged in the same manner”.

“It didn’t take much convincing to accept the floats” per Pat O’Halloran of NIC Aerospace, “and the problem of transporting them was quickly solved by NIC Workforce Training’s CDL program.”  Mitzi Michaud, who oversees the truckers driver training, and driver Ken Rose were quick to agree to help bring these to their new home in Hayden.  “It made for realistic training for our CDL student” Mitzi added.

On January 10th four members of the Aerospace team spent the day at Quest Aircraft Company’s customer service hangar preparing the floats for transportation, and the next day a smaller team went back load them onto NIC’s semi.  The donor company has chosen to remain anonymous, but had these lightly used floats, propeller, and associated equipment assessed at over $290,000 in value.

In-kind donations to Idaho schools, such as this was, can be eligible to for tax deductions on state and federal returns.  State tax filings may also benefit more by offering traditional support, such as cash donations or funding of a scholarship, under Idaho’s 50% education tax credit.

For more information contact ace@nic.edu / 208-625-2344.

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