by Samantha Perera
News editor
The SOSU Flight Team qualified for the National Intercollegiate Flying Association nationals after placing third at the region VI of the NIFA SAFECON
The nationals will take place at Kansas State University in Salina, Kan. in May 2012, said Robert Jacobs, head captain of the flight team.
The SAFECON for 2011 was held at the University of Nebraska in Omaha from October 15-23, said Jacobs. The week-long competition included ground events, which included knowledge-based tests, and flight events that were actually performed in an airplane, said Jacobs.
Twelve students representing the flight team attended the competition, along with their sponsor and adviser, Kyle Thomas, the chief flight instructor of the Southeastern Aviation Sciences Institute.
According to the NIFA website, Jordan Powell and Austin McCann individually placed 13th and 14th respectively.
The last time SE participated in the SAFECON, the team placed 11th, said Jacobs. This year Southeastern won the honor of placing No. 1 in Oklahoma and placed third overall after placing fourth in flight events and second in ground events, said Jacobs. Eight teams go to regionals and the top three go to nationals with a total of 30 teams for nationals, said Jon Cobb, a member of the flight team.
According to the SE press release Kyle Thomas stated, “The young men on this team worked very hard all summer and this fall, raising funds and preparing for this competition.”
“They set and accomplished their goals. Most of all, they took complete ownership of the entire process,” said Thomas.
“The faculty of the Aviation Sciences Institute could not be more proud. The team would like to thank those whose generous contributions helped make this all possible,” said Thomas.
The team worked hard over the summer organizing fundraisers to help finance their trip to the SAFECON raising over $4,000, said Cobb. The fundraisers included garage sales and a plane wash over the summer. A plane wash, said Cobb, is “just like a car wash, but for airplanes.”
The flight team has helped aviation majors gain a lot of experience, said Cobb. “Being on the flight team has helped a lot with understanding airplanes because you learn from the upper classmen as an under classman,” he said.
“What we learn in our aviation classes here we take to like the next level at competitions” which goes into much more detail, said Jacobs.