The Ohio State Flight Team returned home on Sunday from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN after a long but exciting week at NIFA National SAFECON 2018.
Lucky for us, SAFECON fell on the same week as Ohio State final exam week which made things a bit hectic. However, the team worked hard to finish finals and still got in some great practice upon arrival. Twenty-eight schools from around the nation descended upon Terre Haute to vie for the National Championship title. Indiana State hosted some 97 airplanes and the airspace was very busy. The first few days provided beautiful weather, however typical Midwestern winds caused a few delays and we were not able to complete all the flying events due to limitations. This was also the first National competition having N500SU and the new N510SU together and what a cool feeling it was to see two inverse but identical C150's out on the flight line.
The OSU Flight Team once again represented the University in Buckeye pride and enthusiasm. The 12 team members, led by co-captains senior Austin Green and junior Jonah Desrochers and coaching staff, had another tremendous competition experience. I am continually impressed to see how our team gets around to meet other schools and are true professionals. Many of our team members know other school competitors on a first name basis which is very impressive. It has encouraged other schools to take our lead. They definitely realize they may be sharing an office of cockpit with other competitors one day. Our team continued the tradition of having a good time and also bringing home the hardware. We welcomed four new team members this year as well: Aly “7700” Bond, Nolan “Goldilocks” Hart, Jack “Flapjack” Lawrie, and Matt “Pepperoni” Chien. Even on the road, we were able to continue our tradition of having an alumni dinner and presentation of the bowling shirts. Thanks to Alex Mulac, Emily Coaker, Jason Recht, David Maibaum, Scott van Ooyen, Rob Numbers, Sean Maxwell, Anthony Pentz, Josh Fisher, and Adam Stiffler. It takes everyone to run a team and as head coach, I couldn’t do it without the help of our alumni and coaches.
I am pleased to announce that of the 28 schools, the OSU Flight Team placed 6th Place Overall National Champs, 4th in Flying Events. The Buckeyes performed very well for a young team on the road, and even placed highest of all the Region III teams in attendance.
Top Finishes include
Preflight – 8th Kyle Wang, 20th Austin Green
Short Field Landings – Jonah Desrochers
Power Off Landings – 6th Jonah Desrochers, 8th Aly Bond
Navigation – 6th Nick Mortensen/Austin Green
CRM/LOFT – 12th Aly Bond/Jonah Desrochers
IFR Sim – 14th Aly Bond
Ground Trainer – 10th Jonah Desrochers
Power Off Landing – 4th Jonah Desrochers
Full results can be found at www.FlyOSU.org :
The team has carried on the tradition of showing excellence both at home and on the road. They are a true representation of our program, University, sponsors, and alumni. We have some work to do over the summer and have some great ideas how we can continue to accelerate our team into the top places at competition. I’d personally like to thank the College of Engineering, the Center for Aviation Studies, OSU Airport, our tremendous industry sponsors, alumni, parents, and students who make this all happen. As I told another team’s coach in Terre Haute, “They do the heavy lifting for us, I have the easy job which is taking the team on the road to show off what we've got and be the face for our great university.”
On that note, please join us in congratulating the OSU Flight Team for their continued success in the NIFA SAFECON. I've attached a few pictures in better quality; please feel free to share these if you'd like!
GO BUCKS!
-Coach John Ginley
