Ex NIFA competitors?
 

Are there any ex NIFA competitors out there?

I was one of the officers that hosted the 2002 National Safecon at OSU
Then I went on to compete regionally and nationally during the 2002-2003 season

i competed in the ne region during the 03 and 04 season then my college cut the flight team, we were supposed to go to the nationals in 03 but the college didnt want to spend the money

Yeah I understand your pain with that. Some OSU Alumni donated a newly and beautifully painted C-150 to the OSU Flight Team to use as a competition airplane (I'm sure many of you saw "Buckeye 50" with it's bright red tail with Block O on it). OSU aviation administration has recently decided they are cutting all ties and support of the OSU flight team and will be selling the 150.

That's a shame to hear that OSU is cutting ties with the Flight Team. I competed with North Dakota from 97-00. I've been judging since then. Buckeye 50 was one of the better looking 150s out there, too bad to see it go.

Ive heard they are cracking down on performance enhancing steroids. I think the whole UND team was juicing it! ;)

PUFT member 2002-2005.

I remember from 2005 Nationals at K-State as being the l-o-n-g-e-s-t distance I've ever dragged a Warrior or 150. I also remember being part of a 3-ship flight who used the callsign "Toto", then preceded to get our asses chewed by Wally Funk.

I also remember 2003 Nationals at UND when SDSU had "Radio Biach" on the side of their 150 and got reprimanded for it.

NIFA was good times...

UND 2005-2007. Miss it already, wish I could be at regionals in STC this year.

You guys should start flight teams at your various regionals using RJs ?

Dude. The fact that this is an aviation web board does NOT make it ok to admit to being on the Flight Team.

Why not? Does being on a flight team give you a bad reputation? I was told that schools with flight teams have competitive tryouts and only the best of the best make the team.

free flight time, whats to be ashamed of?

Dude...its nothing to be ashamed of.

Sure we were nerds...but we got free flying and had a LOT of fun. Well, at least us not on the UND team had fun.

haha, I can say the UND team was a lot of fun.

What's going on Boiler...hope you enjoyed the 2005 Nationals...I was one of the officers.:) Love the callsign "Toto"...well done.

I've only been a nationals officer...never a competitor. Time and money were a bit tight for me to be on our team (no financial support given), but it was certainly an organization I was proud to be a part of while I had the privilege to do so. My mom and dad even came up and helped out with the Friday night social event, and were impressed with the polite, fun group of students.

the only requirement is that you have to be a huge dork........

Free flight time? Yeah I wish, we had $5 off the regular price for practice and I think $10 off during competition...Tough to compete with guys/gals who stayed up for hours practicing their landings because it was free to them while we were trying to decide how many more landings we could afford. Oh well, we still had a great time...

I was on the UC flight (drinking) team from 03-04, competed at OU and Kent State... Did it for the experience, week off of school and free flight time.

Things sure didn't appear that way at the two Nationals I attended...

I competed in '05 at regionals and nationals, and coached in '06 and '07. It really was a lot of fun, and I ended up making a ton of friends/connections that helped me get me where I am now. We always had a good time at NIFA events, plus the long-haul cross-countries in 172's and 150's were a great eye-opener to all of the competitors that we brought along. I'm hoping I can find some time off next spring for SAFECON '08 to go help judge or something.

Being on the UND nationals team last year, trust me, we had fun :D

For example, we learned that the AF academy guys are real cool...heh heh

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/404...usafuy0.th.jpg

U-Illinois 2002-2005......

Attended Regionals at: HUF, Carbondale, Lewis, OSU

Attended Nationals at UND, Salina

Good times.....

UND was pretty far to take a 152 also.....

How about current NIFA competitors? I've done Regionals and Nationals 04-07...probably will end up coaching for Nationals 08 at MTSU since I won't be a full-time student then...

Absolutely love the team atmosphere and good times had by all...and what's wrong with learning more about the things hardly (or never) used in aviation!? *cough cough* E6b...

I always thought those E6B questions were hilarious and retarded... "While cruising along at FL 350, you start to wonder what the drag coefficient of your airplane is. So you ask your captain, and he tells you that the OAT is -20 and your TAS is 758. Knowing your OAT always reads 7 degrees high and you have your dog and 79 suitcases (weighing 97 kg each) in the back at station 894 (with a CG of 79645 mm), what is your total weight in cases of oil?"
:-)

Former competitor, going on 4 years coaching, national officer, chief judge.......... Met some of my best friends and connections because of NIFA.

And Cessna157 - your information about that 150 is incorrect.

Mtsu
 

It's awesome to see so much support from the university when it comes to the flight team, especially from PM. What a great change from the past where the flight team was pretty much a pariah at the university. Yeah, you guys/gals are very lucky to have the current chief pilot there, I wish he was the CP when I was in school...

Ps. I'm glad you've made it to the captain seat already! :D

Down2mins: I was just corrected about the 150. Seems like the alumni pressure worked. How were you privvy to this info? Ha, something tells me we've known each other for way too long

The OSU 150 with the red tail was still around for regionals at OU last week. It's sad to see the OSU Aviation Department going down hill. Unfortunately, I think a lot of college aviation programs are going down hill. OU is also having trouble with instructors, costs, and enrollment.

Does anyone know if OSU will be able to go to nationals?

Haha....oops. Insert foot into mouth.

SvO wins again! 150 stays where she should

Yes, OSU did qualify for Nationals. and yes, down2mins is correct, alumni pressure forced the university to keep the world's most beautiful 150

I think he means will they be able to afford the nationals trip. I'm a current member of another Region III team...:) I really look forward to competitions. It's a great experience, and I've definitely made a lot of friends and contacts. I really do think Region III is the best. Great teams and great competitors.

I will have to go with Boiler on this one! I was in the same region with UND (95-98 - Ya....I am getting pretty old!) and they looked like they had anything but fun! Then again we were the ones not having fun at the awards banquet when all we heard was:
1st Place - UND
2nd place - UND
3rd Place - UND
4th Place - UND
5th Place - UND
The only problem I had with them was they were pretty anti-social before, during, and after the competitions which gave everyone this impression!

I think they just put three pieces of paper in a hat (UND, ERAU, West.Mich.) and draw for 1st-3rd!! :p

Went to three of our regionals and Nat's @ MTSU and K-State... had a blast! I was supposed to help judge for our region (IV) this year but had to work. Definitely miss it.

SIUC '93 to '95. Some of the best times of my life. The Academy cracked us up with their flight suits and "USA" painted 152's, took themselves so seriously but couldn't compete so good....

Good ole Region V!!! I miss it already and I just competed in my last SAFECON this fall!!! My personal favorite was Glen the staging judge...."pilots are optional, keys are mandatory". :)

I was on WMU's flight team for one year. It was a lot of fun, but I decided to not return because I enjoy actually having some free time to be with my girlfriend, go fishing, go away for the weekend, or just to read a book that wasn't produced by ASA, Jeppesen, or the FAA.

Don't forget Jane's :D

SIU 2004-2007

Good times!

I was on Western's team from 96-00. I owe everything aviation related to that team and the people I've met along the way. It was a great time in my life, and we actually won the national championship in 98. A huge time commitment, but one that I felt was well worth it.

Western paid for all of our travel, flight time, food, lodging, and flight team supplies (jackets, hats, shirts, FAR/AIM, etc). We also received championship rings from our university president after we won. It was really cool.

Callsign, "Toto." Was that Riddle's 152?

Did regionals '99 and '00, Nationals '00 and '01 before the school pretty much cut the budget. But the free flight time and the tooling around sure was fun while it lasted!