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Waiting to excel

29 college flight teams strive to be the best

The gymnasium at Kansas State University's Salina campus is crowded, and the competition is intense.

But the building is silent. There are no cheerleaders shouting beside the court. And there's not a ball to be seen.

On a Wednesday evening, when the typical college student is studying for tomorrow morning's exam or perhaps socializing with friends, 145 determined-looking young people are seated at long tables in the gymnasium--pencils and E6B flight computers in hand--focused on what look like paper test booklets. They represent flight programs at 29 colleges and universities across the country. And they glance nervously upward as bright red digits on the game clock high overhead count down the remaining minutes.

This isn't an athletic contest, or an academic challenge--or maybe it's a little of both. The students are participating in the manual flight computer event at the National Intercollegiate Flying Association's (NIFA) national Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (Safecon), hosted by Kansas State in late April. Think of it as the final round of the NCAA championships for collegiate aviation.

In this event, also called the computer accuracy event, competitors had one hour to answer 35 multiple-choice and five fill-in-the-blank questions. And manual whiz wheels only, please; electronic flight computers are not allowed. It's all about accuracy, but time is important too--in case of a tie, the faster completion time takes precedence. And the questions would make many flight instructors sweat: "If the aircraft burns 46.7 liters per hour and there are 52 Imperial gallons on board, can the aircraft depart Milwaukee, overfly Kalamazoo, return to Milwaukee, and have one hour of reserve fuel?" (To answer the question correctly, you must determine how many minutes of fuel will remain.) Questions like these make the private pilot knowledge test look like child's play.

Hands begin to shoot up, indicating that a competitor has completed the test. Judges dart to and fro, recording the time that each student finished.

It's not until the awards banquet Saturday night that Peter Grey of Henderson, Nevada, a freshman at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, learns that he won the event. "I was very surprised when I found out I had won the event, as it was the last thing I was expecting," Grey said. He had prepared for the event primarily by taking practice tests--and tests administered at previous national Safecons--with the rest of his team and by himself. "During the test my main strategy was to not panic and simply take the test like it was a practice test."

Grey's win helped to propel the Prescott campus's Golden Eagles Flight Team to its fifth national championship. "Knowing that I was a small part in allowing my team to win the national championship is a great feeling that I hope to have again," he said. "Hearing my school named the national champions is a memory that will be ingrained in my mind for life." He hopes to compete for the team during his three remaining years at the university.

Teammate Mike Brewer, at his third nationals in four years on the team, likes the friendly competition between schools. "And the connections you make with people you meet in industry and at other schools," he added. "You'll probably be flying with them in the future."

Competitors were disappointed to find out that Thursday morning's briefing was moved from 7:45 a.m. to 7. The disappointment turned to frustration after they gathered in a cavernous hangar that served as Safecon headquarters, where they learned that the power-off landing competition would be delayed because of the weather--crosswinds for every available runway exceeded NIFA limitations. Students pulled out laptop computers, talked, read books or newspapers, and played cards. Some put their heads down to nap.

Waiting is a significant, and constant, component of the event--just as it can be in aviation.

The wind kept blowing, but it shifted enough that Runway 4 could be used for power-off landings, and pilots for the first two heats excitedly manned their aircraft. But by 10 a.m. the ceiling had dipped to 1,000 feet, and the rules require that it be 500 feet above pattern altitude--so flight operations were grounded.

But ground events like the preflight competition were able to continue. Preflight judge Justin Poe of Fort Worth, Texas, a Kansas State grad, huddled in a cold, dark T-hangar, waiting for competitors to arrive at their designated times. Two work lights provided very limited illumination; the scenario was that students were inspecting N815KS, a Cessna 172 borrowed from the Kansas State flight line, for a night departure.

He followed each competitor as he or she bobbed, weaved, and crawled in and around the Skyhawk--flashlight in hand--shouting out the discrepancies they discovered. The airplane had been intentionally "bugged" with 59 discrepancies; competitors got extra points if they found other legitimate discrepancies. Some did.

"There wasn't a single item everybody missed," Poe said after the event. "Only 15 of 58 competitors noticed that the tail number on the right side was incorrect [it had been altered to read N815K6]. The tail skid was installed backwards; Air Force got it but Navy missed it. I guess they were probably used to tailhooks on most of their aircraft."

Other discrepancies included missing screws and nuts, a missing seat stop, a missing shimmy damper, cut and missing cotter pins and safety wire, a missing flap roller, and a red lens on the right-wing navigation light.

Ian Alexander of Western Michigan University won the event; he found 63 discrepancies. Teammate Travis Epp placed seventh, with a score of 48. It was the fourth consecutive year that Western Michigan finished first, said Jim Whittles, head coach of the Sky Broncos flight team. "It's something we do extremely well," he commented.

Salina marked Whittles' first national competition as head coach, although he's been a flight instructor at the university--and involved with the flight team--for five years. "These young people, all they want to do is absorb the information you have. And the flight team is just an extension of that--they're top-notch students willing to put forth extra effort for the university," he said. "It's amazing how much time they dedicate."

The Sky Broncos have finished in the top three for 14 consecutive national competitions, he noted. "We've traditionally done very well at the navigation event, and we did not do very well this year--we've refocused our efforts for next year. Same with the simulator events," he said. "Where we did do well was in the ground events--and those probably are the hardest thing to motivate yourself for."

The weather improved on Friday morning, and organizers rearranged the schedule so that the first round of competition could be completed for both the short-field and power-off landing events. This means only one team from each school will compete, so that places can be awarded in the events. But many students who spent countless hours practicing--and traveling to Salina--will not have the opportunity to participate. You can feel the disappointment surge through the hangar, but nobody complains.

Saturday morning dawned clear. Normally all flying has been completed by then. But in a choreographed ballet, both in the air and on the ground, Safecon staff managed to complete all flights in both landing events--and then, in a superhuman effort, tallied the scores in time for the awards banquet that evening.

Nick Peacock of Nevada City, California, a junior at the University of North Dakota, placed fifth in short-field landings. "This was my second year placing in the top five in that event," said Peacock, who won it last year. UND took second place in this year's national competition.

The awards banquet is a feeling a competitor never forgets, he added. "Whether you win or lose, it is a motivational force for the next year," he said. "This is an event where the best collegiate aviators in the world come to compete against each other and in the end--no matter what the result of the competition is--everybody takes away something that makes them a better pilot and better person. I really enjoy competing with students from all over the nation. It connects you with people from all over the country for a common passion."

"I think the NIFA Safecon gives future pilots of America a rare opportunity to perfect their flying skills, allowing them to taking flying to a whole new level," added Jared Moore, a UND junior from Torrington, Wyoming. He placed first in two events and was the third-highest-scoring male pilot in the competition. He hopes the UND Flying Team can claim the national title next year.

UND senior Adam Erdmann of Roseau, Minnesota, was surprised at the banquet to learn that his team hadn't placed first. "I thought that we had a great team and that the competition went extremely well. I was sure that we had the championship." He also looks forward to the national title next year. "ERAU-Prescott has never won a back-to-back championship," he noted.

Rich Osborne, a sophomore at Mercer County Community College near Trenton, New Jersey, and captain of its flight team, learned a lot just making the flight to Kansas. "It took us 15 and a half hours of flight time over five days," he said. "We spent one day just waiting [for the weather to improve] in Indiana."

Flying a Cessna 152 with teammate Evan Conley, they carried only one change of clothes each. "We really had to offload baggage. Originally we were 70 pounds overweight." Both had nearly completed the training for their instrument ratings.

The navigation event was challenging, he said. "Navigation was fun. We had to find a 3-foot by 10-foot footbridge over a stream." Other waypoints included a church, a pool, and a swingset in a backyard. "The checkpoints weren't highways or cities, like you use in Jersey," Osborne said.

Salina was the first national competition for Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah--where the flight team is only in its third year. Like its more experienced peers, the team qualified for the national competition by placing high in regional events last year. Westminster won the Red Baron Team Sportsmanship Award, which is presented to the school that demonstrates the most sportsmanship-like behavior.

Christian Heritage College in El Cajon, California, also made its first trip to the national event. Staying on schedule during the navigation event was difficult for freshman David Smith. "We were fighting updrafts and downdrafts, trying to maintain our altitude, and that affected our speed," said Smith, a student pilot who was studying for his practical test during down time at Safecon.

The history of the National Intercollegiate Flying Association can be traced to air meets held before World War II. The collegiate flight competition was revitalized in 1949, and today, more than 70 colleges and universities participate. Results of competitions in each of NIFA's 11 geographical regions determine which teams are invited to attend the national competition.

The national Safecon features seven ground events--flight computer accuracy, cross-country flight planning, aircraft recognition, preflight inspection, ground trainer, IFR simulator, and crew resource management--and four flying events: message drop, navigation, and short-field and power-off landings.

Rounding out the top 10 ranking at the 2005 Safecon were Southern Illinois University, fourth; Purdue University, fifth; U.S. Air Force Academy, sixth; The Ohio State University, seventh; University of Illinois, eighth; Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology, ninth; and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach, Florida, campus (a complete list of all winners is available online).

And as it's often said about any collegiate competition, there's always next year. For members of these college flight teams, that means the 2006 national Safecon, which will be hosted by The Ohio State University in Columbus May 8 through 13. Cheer for your favorites, and check these pages to find out where your team placed.

E-mail Mike Collins, editor of AOPA Flight Training.

Want to know more? Additional photos of the 2005 national Safecon can be seen on AOPA Flight Training Online. Links to additional resources about the topics discussed in this article are available at AOPA Flight Training Online.

Mike Collins
Mike Collins
Technical Editor
Mike Collins, AOPA technical editor and director of business development, died at age 59 on February 25, 2021. He was an integral part of the AOPA Media team for nearly 30 years, and held many key editorial roles at AOPA Pilot, Flight Training, and AOPA Online. He was a gifted writer, editor, photographer, audio storyteller, and videographer, and was an instrument-rated pilot and drone pilot.

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