Ohio State Flight Team Soars to 5th Place at SAFECON 2012

Posted: 

By Kari Fox

The Ohio State University Flight Team placed fifth at the 2012 Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) National Championship that was held May 9-20 in Salina, KS. The nine-member squad competed against a field of 28 teams.

Assistant coach, Scott van Ooyen, said the team took on 11 events.

“We’re a smaller team this year and it’s a little tougher. Some of them had to take on multiple events to get everything covered,” says van Ooyen. “They really stepped up to the plate.”

After the SAFECON regional competition in October, the team will start preparing for nationals in January with multiple practices a week, adding more as the competition gets closer. Some of the events at SAFECON include precision landing, navigation, regulations tests, aircraft recognition, and preflight inspection. This year, the team members took home a number of individual awards including:

Jennifer Logsdon          1st Place Computer Accuracy Event

                                     1st Place GAMA - Harold S Wood Scholarship

                                     2nd Place Overall Top Female Scoring Contestant

                                     3rd Place Women's Achievement Award

                                     7th Place Preflight Event

                                     9th Place SCAN Event

 

Bernie Eddy                4th Place Message Drop Event Pilot

                                    5th Place Navigation Event/Justin Abrams Co-Pilot

                                    8th Place National Top Pilot Award

                                    10th Place Ground Trainer Simulator Event

 

Anthony Pentz             3rd Place Aircraft Recognition

                                     8th Place Short Field Landing Event

                                     8th Place IFR Simulator Event

 

Josh Fisher                  4th Place Message Drop Event Dropmaster

 

Alex Mulac                 6th Place Aircraft Preflight Event

 

 

Josh Fisher, a third-year in aviation management said placing fifth was a terrific feeling.

 “It’s a strong testament to the hard work and dedication that the members of our team put forth every day,” he says. “To stand among students from the big aviation schools like Embry-Riddle and the University of North Dakota proves to us that our hard work sets us apart from the rest.”

Fisher also credits the coaching staff to the team’s success, who are all professionals in the aviation industry with busy work schedules and irregular hours.

“Regardless of their busy lives, they all give up so much of their time to come to each and every practice and guide us toward success,” he says. “This dedication speaks volumes to the team members.”

Head coach, Richard Ward, said the team really gelled together this year.

“You could see the lasting relationships that were built and the support they had for each other,” he says.  “It was really great to see them have so much fun together while competing at such a high level.”

One teammate that felt that support was Alex Mulac, a fourth-year in aviation, who said his sixth place finish in the preflight competition was because of the help of team captain, Jen Logsdon.

“She really helped motivate me in practice by always being a step ahead, pushing me to try harder to beat her,” he says.

Next year, The Ohio State University will host the SAFECON nationals, and Mulac has high hopes.

“This being my senior year I really want to lay it all on the line and be the first Ohio State flight team to win nationals when it is back here next year.”

Van Ooyen says one of the team’s goals over the summer is to relax, but that usually doesn’t last long.

“They’ll start calling again in July asking if we can start practicing again,” he says. “They’re always ready to go.”

 Kari Fox is a student communications assistant with the College of Engineering

Category: Students