Once again, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University dominated the National Intercollegiate Flying Association\u2019s (NIFA) Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) held May 4-10 at Middle Tennessee State University in Smyrna, Tenn.<\/p>\n
The Golden Eagles flight team from Embry-Riddle\u2019s Prescott, Ariz. campus captured first place and the Eagles flight team from the Daytona Beach, Fla. campus placed third in the national competition.<\/p>\n
It was the first back-to-back national championship for the Golden Eagles, which took the top spot last year at NIFA SAFECON, as well as in 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, and 2005. The Eagles of Daytona Beach took first in 1992.<\/p>\n
\nIn this year\u2019s competition, which involved more than 400 pilots from 31 aviation programs around the nation, the Golden Eagles earned a total of 465 points. Following them in the rankings were the University of North Dakota, with 349 points, and Embry-Riddle\u2019s Daytona Beach team, with 332 points.<\/p>\n
The Golden Eagles also captured the Judges Trophy, as well as first place in flying events and ground events. The Eagles flight team won the Wally Funk Competition Safety Award and came in second, third, and fourth place respectively in the flying events, Judges Trophy, and ground events.<\/p>\n
Several individuals on both teams placed particularly well. From the Daytona Beach campus, Derek Herchko and Alex Kim took first in navigation, a crew event, and Dan Demmery was first in the ground trainer event. On the Prescott team, Peter Grey was first in the simulated comprehensive aircraft navigation event. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur performance was a result of endless hours of work and practice by every team member. It truly is a team effort that wins national championships,\u201d said Jared Testa, head coach of the Golden Eagles. He added: \u201cThirteen of our 18 national contestants will return next year to work toward a \u2018three-peat.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree years after Daytona Beach placed a renewed emphasis on its flight team, our second year in the top three confirms we have re-arrived as a contender,\u201d said Les Westbrooks, who coached the Eagles with David Zwegers. \u201cThe results of this competition confirm that Embry-Riddle is the premier flight-training venue in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Individual Rankings<\/p>\n
Event:\tPlace:\tIndividual\/Team:
\nNational Top Pilot;
\n\t7\tDerek Herchko\/Eagles<\/p>\n
Top Male Contestant;
\n\t4\tGrant Culver\/Golden Eagles
\n\t5\tDan Demmery\/Eagles
\n\t6\tAndrew Garrett\/Golden Eagles
\n\t8\tPeter Grey\/Golden Eagles
\n\t16\tAustin Richey\/Golden Eagles<\/p>\n
Power-off Landings;
\n\t3\tAndrew Garrett\/Golden Eagles
\n\t6\tWilliam Bayliss\/Golden Eagles
\n\t9\tDan Demmery\/Eagles
\n\t13\tRonell Balgobin\/Eagles
\n\t17\tJustin Westbrooks\/Eagles
\n\t22\tPeter Grey\/Golden Eagles
\n\t33\tAustin Richey\/Golden Eagles
\n\t86\tDavid Moore\/Golden Eagles<\/p>\n
Short Field Landings\t5\tMichael Crowley\/Eagles
\n\t6\tAndrew Garrett\/Golden Eagles
\n\t8\tAustin Richey\/Golden Eagles
\n\t10\tTim Lerner-Lam\/Eagles
\n\t11\tGrant Culver\/Golden Eagles
\n\t16\tMarc-Andre Beaudry\/Eagles
\n\t21\tWilliam Bayliss\/Golden Eagles
\n\t34\tPeter Grey\/Golden Eagles<\/p>\n
Navigation;
\n\t3\tGrant Culver\/Ian Burton\/Golden Eagles
\n\t6\tAustin Richey\/Brandon Anderson\/Golden Eagles
\n\t37\tPeter Grey\/Nate Visser\/Golden Eagles<\/p>\n
Simulated Comprehensive
\nAircraft Navigation;
\n\t1\tPeter Grey\/Golden Eagles
\n\t4\tDerek Herchko\/Eagles
\n\t5\tWilliam Bayliss\/Golden Eagles
\n\t6\tIan Burton\/Golden Eagles
\n\t8\tSchuyler Nachod\/Eagles
\n\t13\tNate Visser\/Golden Eagles
\n\t14\tGrant Culver\/Golden Eagles
\n\t18\tTim Lerner-Lam\/Eagles<\/p>\n
Certified Flight Instructor;
\n\t2\tJoey Giangrasso\/Eagles<\/p>\n
Ground Trainer;
\n\t1\tDan Demmery\/Eagles<\/p>\n
IFR Simulated Flight;
\n\t3\tDan Demmery\/Eagles<\/p>\n
Computer Accuracy;
\n\t3\tPeter Grey\/Golden Eagles
\n\t4\tDerek Herchko\/Eagles
\n\t5\tGrant Culver\/Golden Eagles
\n\t6\tJonathan Meyer\/Eagles
\n\t7\tAndy Garrett\/Golden Eagles
\n\t12\tSherman Caril\/Eagles
\n\t18\tJeonggyoon Lee\/Eagles
\n\t20\tIan Burton\/Golden Eagles
\n\t21\tJahvan DeChape\/Golden Eagles<\/p>\n
Crew Resource Management;
\n\t6\tDan Demmery\/Joey Giangrasso\/Eagles<\/p>\n
Aircraft Recognition;
\n\t2\tBlake Glass\/Eagles
\n\t6\tChristopher Purcell\/Golden Eagles
\n\t8\tDavid Moore\/Golden Eagles
\n\t11\tAlex Kim\/Eagles
\n\t14\tThad Short\/Golden Eagles
\n\t15\tChristopher Thelan\/Golden Eagles
\n\t17\tWilliam Jacobson\/Golden Eagles
\n\t19\tMatt Cullen\/Eagles
\n\t20\tMarc-Andre Beaudry\/Eagles<\/p>\n
Aircraft Preflight Inspection;
\n\t4\tWilliam Bayliss\/Golden Eagles
\n\t6\tGrant Culver\/Golden Eagles
\n\t7\tDan Demmery\/Eagles
\n\t17\tJonathan Hester\/Eagles<\/p>\n
Instrument Flight;
\n\t10\tPeter Grey\/Golden Eagles<\/p>\n
Message Drop;
\n\t6\tRichard Shupe\/William Bayliss\/Golden Eagles
\n\t47\tCassandra Nagle\/Austin Richey\/Golden Eagles
\n\t80\tChristopher Thelan\/Ian Burton\/Golden Eagles<\/p>\n
\nEmbry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world\u2019s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through its Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States and Europe, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.erau.edu <\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once again, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University dominated the National Intercollegiate Flying Association\u2019s (NIFA) Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) held May 4-10 at Middle Tennessee State University in Smyrna, Tenn. The… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":615444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genaero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2168"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2174,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions\/2174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/615444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}