More Than 300 Students Competed On 27 Teams

Competing at the annual National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON), the Golden Eagles flight team from the Embry-Riddle Prescott Campus placed second at SAFECON’s 2014 national competition. The team also won the Ground Events competition and the Golden Eagles’ Alex Johnson took first in Simulated Comprehensive Aircraft Navigation.

Held May 12-17 at The Ohio State University Airport, the event brought together almost 300 students on 27 collegiate aviation teams from around the United States to compete in flight and ground events.

The Golden Eagles flight team and individual team members also finished in the top 10 in 14 of 21 additional categories and have an unbroken 30-year record as regional champion.

“The Golden Eagles flight team continued a tradition of excellence in placing second at this year's National Intercollegiate Flying Association's annual Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference,” said head coach Jared Testa. “I'm extremely proud of our team, the efforts expended over the year and the results of last week's competition.” 

The Eagles flight team from Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus finished eighth overall with another eight top 10 finishes in other categories. Ryan Leeward placed first in Aircraft Recognition, Peter Weber finished second in Computer Accuracy and the team took second in Ground Events.

“The Eagles flight team prepared well and showed its stuff in the competition. The entire team demonstrated its hard work and dedication. The team received the second-place trophy for Ground Events, its best showing in this category since 1997,” said team faculty advisor Scott Reese. “Several other team members contributed to the performance, including three first-time members and two freshmen. We are all extremely proud of the Eagles Flight Team for its accomplishments in this national competition.”

The Prescott team has won the NIFA SAFECON national championship nine times since 1993. The Daytona Beach team won the national championship in 1992 and placed second in 2009 and 2010.

The Golden Eagles Prescott Team consists of captains Mitchell Boehle and Kyle Thannisch, advisor Jack Panosian, head coach Jared Testa, coaches Ken Fukayama, Russell Harris and Colin Tokarek, and competitors Stephen Anderson, Julie Bales, Ricardo Colon, Victor Griffin, Jace Henwood, Alex Johnson, Chin-An Lin, Ian McLellan, Klyte Mills, Samuel Morris, Allison Read, Zachary Sargent, Daniel Sullivan, Cameron Wall and Roger Williams.

Daytona Beach Eagles team members include captain Benjamin Eve, advisor Scott Reese, coach Jamsheed Lovelace and competitors Travis Bellows, Luke Buckett, Devon Burris, Abhishek David, Liam Dermady, Joshua Holmes, Angela Inman, Vivek Jadav, Ryan Leeward, Li Lin, Kushan Patel, Tyler Rafferty, Peter Weber, with support from Emmy Dillon and Scott Parker.

FMI: www.facebook.com/TheGoldenEaglesFlightTeam, www.nifa.us