Liberty University NIFA team lands in 14th place at SAFECON nationals in Illinois

Despite dealing with severe storms in the first half of the May 18-23 SAFECON National Aviation Championships, the Liberty University School of Aeronautics’ National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) competition team finished in 14th place out of 32 programs represented at the Quad Cities International Airport in Moline, Ill.

“I could not be more proud of the team this year,” first-year NIFA Flight Team Coach Nathanael Brown (’24) said. “We had to relocate our aircraft twice for incoming thunderstorms and hail, and we were able to successfully do so and also retrieve the aircraft just in time for (last) Tuesday’s first flight event (the Message Drop).”

Under the adjusted schedule, Navigation event competitions took place on Wednesday followed by Power-off Landings on Thursday and Short-field Landings on Friday.

“We had great practice leading up to the competition — 14 hours per week over four to five days on average, (so) we were pretty confident, especially after three days of practice at Quad Cities Airport,” Brown said, noting the student aviators strengthened team unity and camaraderie throughout the week.

Of the 16 team members who traveled to Illinois, more than half were at least second-year competitors, and that continuity gave them an edge on much of the competition. The veteran leadership and the team’s advance preparation set the stage for its strongest SAFECON showing in the past five years.

NIFA is a community of the top aviation students and industry professionals who are fueling the future of aviation through advanced education and spirited competition at the highest level. SAFECON is the pinnacle of collegiate aviation excellence, serving as the ultimate national competition for aviation performance and safety.

Several outstanding performances by Liberty’s team, including Top 10 placements in the Crew Resource Management (CRM)/Line-Oriented Flight Training (LOFT) and Message Drop competitions, contributed to its 14th-place finish, up five spots from its 19th-place showing last May.

Daniel Piazza, who will graduate in December, and fellow senior Braxton Smith placed ninth out of 27 tandems in the CRM/LOFT event with Piazza serving as the monitoring pilot and Smith as the flying pilot. The duo also placed ninth out of 123 tandems in the Message Drop competition, with Piazza serving as the drop-master and Smith the pilot.

Piazza tied for second in the Aviation Maintenance event and finished in the top 10 percent overall of the more than 450 pilot contestants, earning 24 points toward his team’s total and landing in a four-way tie for 46th place.

Smith, who was named Top Pilot at the Region X competition in October, where Liberty won its 20th consecutive championship, also placed 34th out of 153 pilots in the Short-Field Landing competition.

Other standout performances at nationals included junior Emmitt Snider’s 14th-place finish (out of 62 contestants) in the Aircraft Preflight Inspection competition, locating 31 airworthiness discrepancies in 13 minutes, 33 seconds, and freshman Caeden Murray’s 25th-place ranking by finding 27 discrepancies in his inspection that required 14:49.

In the Ground Trainer event, Liberty junior Isabella Hauri placed 12th out of 93 contestants with senior Carter Smith (17th) and Braxton Smith (27th) also finishing in the top 25 percentile.

Out of 32 programs overall, Liberty finished 20th in the Judges Trophy standings based on landing in a three-way tie for 19th place in the Flight Events championship totals with 36 points and 11th out of 32 programs in the Ground Events championship totals with 20 points.

Complete results are available online.

Jack Soutullo, a Certified Flight Instructor who will graduate this fall, was awarded Liberty’s Outstanding Team Member for his impactful work ethic and team support.

He said the team overcame adversity to achieve its key goals for the season.

“Nationals is all about safety, professionalism, and performance, which starts even before the competition does,” Soutullo said. “As a team, our biggest challenge this year was balancing coursework, flight training, and graduation with our ground and flight practices each week over the past several months.”

Coaches Brown, Jacob Melanson, and Zeke Erickson believe Liberty’s strong ground event performances provide a solid foundation for next year’s goal of placing among the best programs in the nation.

“To reach the top 10, we need to continue strengthening our flight performance,” Brown said. “Next year may mark our first implementation of AI-driven performance tracking, which would provide valuable insights into our strengths and areas for growth as we build on this upward trajectory.”