UND Flying Team captures 16th national victory in 25 years of SAFECON competion

With tenacity, talent, and top-notch flying, the University of North Dakota Flying Team won the 2010 SAFECON national collegiate aviation competition. It was UND’s 16th SAFECON championship in 25 years, among the best long-term performance records in SAFECON’s 90 year history.

“This win clearly demonstrates UND’s dominance in the field of academic aviation at every level,” said UND President Robert O. Kelley. “We’re very proud of these students and their ability to demonstrate their aviation skills in SAFECON’ rigorous national competition.”

The UND Flying Team—all students—nabbed the championship spot with 474 total points, 99 points ahead of the No. 2 team Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. It was one of the competition’s widest-ever winning margins and the second year in a row that UND won the competition with a record score. UND’s victory means being the best of the best–only the country’s top 30 or so college flying teams are invited to participate in SAFECON.

UND also scored No. 1 in the Flight Events Champions competition with 282 points, 40 points ahead of the U.S. Air Force Academy. UND won the No. 1 spot in the Ground Events Champions event, with 192 points, 16 points ahead of No. 2 place Embry-Riddle.

It’s UND’s 16th victory in the 25 years that the school has sent teams to SAFECON, a major feat in a tough competitive environment that includes the country’s very best college fliers. SAFECON is the continent’s largest collegiate flying competition and is organized by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA).

“It was a brilliant performance, a real testatment to the education and training we offer our students at the UND John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences,” said Bruce Smith, dean of the Odegard School and himself an aviator and former UND football player. “This competition, which is like the NCAA championship in collegiate sports, benchmarks the overall excellence of our college’s academic program and flight operations.”

“The UND Flying team showcases the very high level of flying skills that we endeavor to develop,” said Smith, who drove down to Terre Haute to participate in the SAFECON awards banquet last Saturday.

“Winning the national championship is an uneqquivocal testament to the character of UND’s overall aviation program,” said Jim Higgins, associate professor and Flying Team coach.

“This was a complete team effort—by team I mean the entire organization firing on all cylinders. This was a very hard-working group with a strong sense of UND pride,” said Higgins, who was named Coach of the Year by NIFA at this year’s SAFECON. Fifteen of the UND Flying Team’s 30 current members competed this year. The team co-captains were Kyle Schurb and Greg Weseman.

The UND Flying Team took five aircraft to the competition: three brand new Cessna 172 Skyhawks and two Cessna 150s, one of which was the Odegard School’s very first aircraft. This aircraft was re-acquired recently by Smith, who had it fully restored. The students flew these aircraft down to Terre Haute and back to Grand Forks, each leg taking about 8 hours.

The SAFECON competition tests a broad variety of aviation skills, both on the ground and in the air. Flight events include power-off and short-field landings, a very demanding test of a pilot’s skills. Navigation is another key flight event, which tests a pilot’s ability to safely navigate 100-mile course down to the second. Ground events include tests that measure a pilot’s knowledge of regulations, weather, and their ability to do aviation math without electronic aids.

Overall, SAFECON is about testing the total package of skills that a pilot needs to safely, accurately, and on-time fly an aircraft from point A to point B. Many of the collegiate aviators in this competition will become the world’s future professional aviators. UND—since it began competing in SAFECON 25 years ago—has always placed in the Top 10, most often in the top two spots.

About 70 schools are members of NIFA, but only 30 or so annually qualify for competition, which is based on regional wins.

UND also garnered leading honors in other SAFECON competition events:

* UND student William Gardner won the No. 2 spot in the National Top Pilot Award category; his teammate Jamie Marshall also garnered a top 10 spot.

* Gardner was No. 2 Top Scoring Male Contestant; UND competitors Kyle Schurb, Jamie Marshall, Erik Johnson, David Edmonds, and Greg Weseman also placed in the top 20 in this category.

* The Judges Trophy No. 1 win went to UND, with 3436 points overall, 256 points of No. 2 scoring Embry-Riddle.

* The No. 2 competition’s Craig Morrison Award—given for pre-flight scanning and computer accuracy skills—went to UND’s Greg Weseman; UND’s Scott Meyer and David Edmonds also earned Top 10 spots.

The awards ceremony took place Saturday, May 22 at Indiana State University, Terre Haute.