Risk Management Decision May Still Be Overturned

By Senior Correspondent Kevin "Hognose" O'Brien and Senior Editor Pete Combs

The precision flight team at California's San Jose State University has been abruptly grounded in what appears to be a conflict over new insurance rules at the institution. While team members continue to wrangle with the school administration, it appears the team may have to miss at least the year's first competition.

The question is, why?

The San Jose State Precision Flight Team has been decertified at the request of a university risk manager -- who told flight team members the situation was "out of his hands." George Sabino suggested ANN call the school's public affairs department. But the school's interim president says it's all in the hands of the risk manager.

The SJSU Precision Flight Team has competed in National Intercollegiate Flying Association events since 1966. NIFA was formed under a slightly different name in 1935, in the Golden Age of aviation, to develop and advance aviation education and safety, although it traces its origins to the first Intercollegiate Glider Meet that brought teams from seven schools together in 1911. NIFA stages competitions around the country. There are events in 11 US regions, as well as a national competition. Almost seventy colleges and universities are involved in NIFA.

All NIFA contests are aviation-related. Some are ground events: test your skill with the E6B computer, or identify aircraft from a picture -- or maybe, from a picture of a part of the aircraft. And some events are aerial tests of skill, of which the spot landing is perhaps the best known (after all, it's the most photogenic).

The competitions are known as SAFECONs -- Safety And Flight Evaluation Conferences -- an effort to reinforce the message that this is all about safety.

Who could be against that?

Well, to hear the Flight Team tell it, risk manager George Sabino is.

University sources tell ANN Sabino decided the flight team is simply a risk that he doesn't want to manage. The decision to strip the team of its university credentials came after Sabino learned of the Region II SAFECON in Salinas. The event, originally hosted by the SJSU club, runs from Thursday through Monday.

Earlier this month, Sabino and Aviation and Technology Department Chairwoman Pat Backer sent several messages to Flight Team Captain Craig Utas, coach Kelly Harrison, NIFA Executive Director Gary Hemphill, and the managers of the Salinas airport where the event is to take place. The letters and emails basically said: this team is not authorized by SJSU; its members can't use the university name. NIFA was ordered to drop the team from all events. The correspondences directed all recipients to remove the University's name from the NIFA websites "immediately." The letters indicate Sabino was willing to call in the campus police to ensure the university's name isn't used at the competition.

Hemphill immediately complied and found another host institution for the Salinas event. While the SJSU team had done all the prep work, Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA, had to step in as the actual host of the Region II SAFECON.

"I appreciate the chance to comment, but I can't really," said Sabino. "It's out of my hands -- lots of other, bigger university departments are involved -- Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and the Office of the President."

ANN's attempts to contact a spokeswoman for the school administration were unanswered.

However, Veril Phillips, interim vice president of SJSU's Division of Student Affairs, told the school newspaper, the Spartan, that the university's insurance policy had changed since the flight team's charter was last renewed seven years ago.

SJSU is now self-insured. Reinsurers cover its excess liability risk for student activities. In effect, SJSU has insurance, but with a huge deductible.

But the reinsurance apparently excludes aviation risks. (We say apparently because the team members have asked to see copies of the contracts, and no one has produced them). It's a bit irrational that the reinsurers accept sports like football (the leading cause of para- and quadriplegia in certain age groups) and diving, but don't accept NIFA competition (the SJSU team has been doing this since 1966 without a scratch on airplane or person). But then, the reinsurers may not know this.

"[Accepting the Precision Flight Team as a SJSU-authorized club] would mean instead of a deductible, where our liability is limited to $250,000 per event, we would have unlimited liability," Phillips told the Spartan. "I just don't see a way to resolve it."

George Sabino, speaking to the campus paper, sounded a note of cautious optimism. "...[A] lot of people are involved. We hope to have a decision soon."

"We're not giving up," Coach Harrison told Aero-News. "Until that first event takes place, and we're not in it, I'm going to believe we'll succeed." And if the problems aren't resolved by this weekend? "There's the Nationals in Kansas in April. There's next year's Regionals. We're not going to just go away."

FMI: www.sjsuflightteam.com