MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- A team of aircraft mechanics from Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 16 pulls an engine out of a CH-53E helicopter and breaks it down. They find the problem, repair it and rebuild the engine. Before the engine goes back on the aircraft, the Marines of MALS-16's test cell must ensure it is safe. After mechanics repair an engine, the test cell connects it to a simulator and runs it to check that it functions normally.

"The most important thing I tell new Marines in training is that it is our job is to try to fail every motor," said Staff Sgt. Kenneth L. Jourdan, MALS-16 staff noncommissioned officer in charge.  "If we can't fail it then it's a damn good motor going out the door."

For Jourdan, ensuring the engines are up to par is extra special, because his brother-in-law is a crew chief with a CH-46E squadron.  His brother-in-law may depend on the engine that his section tests. 

Although many of the other Marines in the section don't have the same personal reasons to check aircraft engines, they know that they have an important job.

The MALS-16 test cell Marines' mission starts when a newly-repaired engine arrives on a truck.  They place it on a machine that simulates the rest of the aircraft with key components, such as transmission, fuel lines and exhaust.

Once the engine is in place, Marines power it up from an adjoining room and observe and record how it runs under different conditions.  They also check parameters, such as engine temperature and rotations per minute in a sound-absorbing building called a "hush house."

Although a lot of the engine noise is absorbed by the hush house, a faint rumbling can still be heard standing outside.  The small rumbling turns into a overpowering screaming inside the room where the engine is running.  Marines inside this room are required to wear double hearing protection while working on a running engine. 

While they are enduring the noise, test cell Marines look for engine leaks, listen for strange noises and watch for other types of malfunctions.  It takes only the smallest discrepancy to fail an engine.

"This is the place to have things go wrong," said Jourdan.  "If an engine isn't good enough we want it to malfunction here instead of on an aircraft in the sky."
Sometimes things do go wrong in the hush house, although not often. Most breakdowns can be as simple as a bearing going out and bouncing around the cell like a pinball.  Jourdan recalls one of the worst malfunctions he has seen in a hush house, when an engine spewed flames from the front and back.

"With the electrical components, high temperatures and fast moving parts, it is a very dangerous place to be if you don't know what you're doing," said Jourdan.  "I've been out here more than 11 years and haven't been hurt."

To ensure test cell Marines know their job, they are handpicked from the pool of willing MALS-16 power plant mechanics.  The test cell team takes new Marines step by step and slowly teaches them every detail of the job before they can take on the challenges by themselves. 

Once a new Marine joins the unit he starts as a "cord man," the Marine who stands in the room with the engine while it is running and looks for the smallest discrepancies.  Then he graduates to the recorder position, where he records how the engine behaves during each test.  The next rung on the test cell ladder is the operator's position.

This Marine acts as a pilot while he operates the simulator and runs the engine.  He is responsible for shutting the engine down at the first sign of danger.

The test cell is a tight section within the Powerplants Section of MALS-16 and pays special attention to training new Marines. They believe they have one of the most important missions in the Marine Corps, because they leave no question that every engine put into the sky is a quality product.