UND seeks to retain national title in flying competition The UND Flying Team will travel to Ohio State University in Columbus, and compete against 29 of the nation’s top flying programs from 11 regions around the country to retain the national championship title in the National Collegiate Flying Association’s (NIFA) Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) May 7-12. If successful, the Flying Team would win their 15th national championship in the last 22 years. “The selection process for the national competition team of the UND Flying Team was very difficult this year,” said Mark (Monty) Johnson, head coach/advisor. “We had team members battling for the opportunity to represent the University at the national competition right to the very end. The competition has a good mix of returning members from last year’s national championship team and new members that we will be counting on for years to come.” The team consists of 25 aviation student body members. These members are volunteers who have made a commitment of time and effort to be a part of the team. The team participates in two competitions annually, regional qualifying competition and the national competition to determine the national championship. The UND Flying Team has won the regional championship since 1972 with the exception of fall 1975 and fall 1988, and has held the National NIFA title for 14 of the past 21 years. The team is a member of the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA), the sanctioning body for the regional and national SAFECON competitions. SAFECON places a special emphasis on safety of flight operations. The competition consists of 11 events, four flying events and seven ground events, which test a variety of piloting skills. The championship team will be announced during an evening banquet May 12. -- Aerospace Sciences.