Flight team dominates sixth straight regional championship

NIFA — (Above) A Cessna 172 takes flight at Falwell Aviation Inc. which Liberty acquired in February. (Below) The National Intercollegiate Flying Association team at Liberty won the Region X competition for the sixth consecutive year.

The School of Aeronautics’ flight team won the Region X competition for the sixth consecutive year. They are regarded as a shining example of outstanding performance and excellent sportsmanship.

The National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) team at Liberty was founded eight years ago by retired Navy pilot Capt. Ernie Rogers. Since then, Liberty has dominated regional competition. Rogers is now the School of Aeronautics assistant dean for residential studies.

“From having a couple people compete the first year to having six consecutive Region X championships — that’s pretty neat,” Rogers said. “It’s been really rewarding.”

The competition is divided up into two portions: flight and ground. Events include things like precision landings, navigation, preflight inspection and aircraft recognition. Both portions are combined for an overall score, and Liberty pilots took first in each.

“The ground portion we absolutely dominated,” senior Christian Traxler said. “The flight portion was a little bit closer, but we still did really well.”

Liberty also received the Safety Award and Red Baron Team Sportsmanship award. The latter was given for unique sportsmanship shown by the team. One school was short a pilot and could not compete in the message drop event. Since the “drop master” was the main focus, one of Liberty’s captains, Jeffrey Wietholter, flew the aircraft while the other student dropped his container.

“They actually ended up placing pretty well (sixth), so we were like, ‘Darnit!’” Traxler said, laughing. “It was all in good sport, though.”

While most aviation students are male, the women in the program have been making a name for themselves.

“One of our female pilots, Melanie Evans, took first place in the power-on landings — this was the first time a female has won a landing event in our region,” Rogers said. “The girls are really stepping up and getting better and better every year.”

Since the team represents the aviation program and the university as a whole, an emphasis is placed on excelling in the national competition. After winning 15th in the nation during finals last year, the NIFA team is aiming for a top 10 finish this spring.

The School of Aeronautics’ flight team won the Region X competition for the sixth consecutive year. They are regarded as a shining example of outstanding performance and excellent sportsmanship.

The National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) team at Liberty was founded eight years ago by retired Navy pilot Capt. Ernie Rogers. Since then, Liberty has dominated regional competition. Rogers is now the School of Aeronautics assistant dean for residential studies.

“From having a couple people compete the first year to having six consecutive Region X championships — that’s pretty neat,” Rogers said. “It’s been really rewarding.”

The competition is divided up into two portions: flight and ground. Events include things like precision landings, navigation, preflight inspection and aircraft recognition. Both portions are combined for an overall score, and Liberty pilots took first in each.

“The ground portion we absolutely dominated,” senior Christian Traxler said. “The flight portion was a little bit closer, but we still did really well.”

Liberty also received the Safety Award and Red Baron Team Sportsmanship award. The latter was given for unique sportsmanship shown by the team. One school was short a pilot and could not compete in the message drop event. Since the “drop master” was the main focus, one of Liberty’s captains, Jeffrey Wietholter, flew the aircraft while the other student dropped his container.

“They actually ended up placing pretty well (sixth), so we were like, ‘Darnit!’” Traxler said, laughing. “It was all in good sport, though.”

While most aviation students are male, the women in the program have been making a name for themselves.

“One of our female pilots, Melanie Evans, took first place in the power-on landings — this was the first time a female has won a landing event in our region,” Rogers said. “The girls are really stepping up and getting better and better every year.”

Since the team represents the aviation program and the university as a whole, an emphasis is placed on excelling in the national competition. After winning 15th in the nation during finals last year, the NIFA team is aiming for a top 10 finish this spring.

“We’ve got the team to do it,” Traxler said. “We’ve got a top-notch program here, and we’d like to represent it well.”

The School of Aeronautics has grown exponentially every year and is in a unique position to excel. Liberty is one of only three schools in the country to offer both airplane and helicopter licenses. With the acquisition of Falwell Aviation Inc. in February of this year, the school also has acquired a full “fixed base operator” which supplies fuel, services, aircraft maintenance repair and charter flights. Rogers is proud of the program’s growth and looks forward to the future.

“Funny thing I notice the most is that, walking around three or four years ago, I never saw anyone from aviation,” Rogers said. “Now, everywhere I go, they’re working there, going there or walking down the street — all the time — I love it.”

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