Tristar
Pattern Altitude
Every morning began with the crisp air highlighting your breath as you take in the beautiful sights of a perfect sunrise. The sweet smell of avgas was in the air and the excitement of competition was on everyone's mind. The NIFA Region VI competition had come at last. OSU was among 8 schools to compete this year along with University of Oklahoma, Parks University, Spartan School of Aeronautics (the host school), University of Central Missouri, SoutheasternOklahoma State University, and University of Nebraska - Omaha.
NIFA stands for National Intercollegiate Flying Association. Every year they host a regional and national competition between colleges across the nation. At the end, each school is given trophies for the competitions they dominate.
Our week began on Sunday with an early rise to get the two 152s and a 172 ready and on their way to Riverside (KRVS). I was in N67951 that morning. Upon preflight I noticed that the beacon wasn't working. I asked one of my team members who also help in the hanger what he suggests. He walks over, asks me to push the tail down, and he taps the beacon...it works! Why does that not surprise me? Hehe
The flight was smooth and cool lasting all of 45 minutes leaving the rest of the day to register, a little bit of practice and the rest of things in order.
Monday started with more landing practice and opening ceremonies which were basically a welcome and the rules of the events. The first event was that night which was Aircraft Recognition. Aircraft Recognition is conducted by judge giving you 3 seconds to view a picture and 15 seconds to select the right make, name, and nick name such as "Cessna" "C-172N" "Skyhawk."
The official flying events started on Tuesday with Power off 180s which were cut short due to NIFA's crosswind component of 10 kts exceeded. The idea of the landing events is to hit the 0 line. One line is drawn 100 ft before and 200 ft after and then small lines every 10 ft. The Navigation event was given the go though. This competition is where the pilot is given 30 minutes to find 5 lat/long coordinates, plan headings, fuel enroute and time enroute. Both the pilot and safety pilot then fly the course and whoever gets the closest to their plan wins.
Wednesday it rained all afternoon and evening so all of the teams competed in ground events such as the Sim (timed turns, climbs, descents following a pattern). Points are deducted based on how many feet and rate of bank the pilot is off each second. It's very precise. The rest of the day was given to the preflight competition which allows each school 3 team members (one at a time) to find as many deficiencies as possible in 15 minutes. I found out later that many of them were small such as missing bolts and cotter pins. Our guys did very well in that along with Aircraft Recognition.
The winds were howling out of the west for runway 19R and 19L on Thursday, we waited around all afternoon hoping that they'd die down but refused to do so, thus the short field landings had to be put off until Friday. That evening, Spartan hosted a social event which consisted of Poker, Craps, and some other games along with a cookout. Even if you didn't get involved with the action, it was pleasant to talk with other teams. It’s amazing how similar we are even though we are of different insignia. I ended up making friends with many of the school team members including University of Central Missouri and Kansas State. The coach from University Nebraska Omaha even "paid" for me to try Craps with fake money which I lost in about 2 seconds, he came back with "Darn Oklahoma lost all my money!" We had a good laugh. I decided to stick to the socialization and the free hotdogs!
Friday was an exceptionally early rise but paid off with a beautiful sunrise. The judges asked us to arrive especially early to take advantage of the least amount of winds possible in hopes to get two flight events in; Short Field and message drop. It was a wonderful morning for landings, cool, calm, and clear also known as the three "c's" of a perfect NIFA day. The judges needed helpers to yell out which line each aircraft hit which I quickly volunteered not wanting to miss the action. It's a lot of fun being so close and involved. I have to say that each team had their great and not so great landings but over all did very well. This event was the big judgment on who would be the winners. The difference between the worst and best teams was a total of 5 points...which is incredibly close. We had 8 flights or "Heats" as NIFA calls them for the landing events all consisting of 5 aircraft from the different schools. There were 2 main judges on the flight line next to the runway and others scattered throughout the airport area watching closely judging traffic pattern, approach, and touchdown.
Me as the pilot and one of my team members or "drop master" competed in message drop. The idea was to fly at 200 feet at the approach and departure end thousand foot markers and drop a specified weighted box with a message as close as we could to two barrels. Our score was around 450 feet. We didn't win but it was a lot closer than 1,600 feet of another school. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
Friday evening was the banquet which was held at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum with full catering. All the teams came dressed in ties and pretty dresses. Before the banquet officially started, we were given the opportunity to have the entire museum to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed the displays. There was of course a kid’s area which many of us turned into 10 year olds playing with paper airplane shooters, vacuums, and other scientific experiments. I made the coolest looking paper airplane resembling an F-16
.
The banquet started about 30 minutes later. Our guest speaker was one of the judges that happened to be a captain for FedEx but also had many enjoyable stories such as being a pilot at Top Gun along with giving tours and making good friends with the characters from the actual movie. The F-14 which is in the museum was from a sister squadron. His best story was when he was refueling the F-14 when all of the sudden the aircraft went to 100% pulling the fuel line off. He had no throttle control and was asking everyone he could for suggestions. Someone came on the radio saying that maintenance had installed the AOA wrong and to go vertical then throw out the landing gear. Thankfully it worked and he resumed throttle control. What a story!
After the great war stories, trophies and awards were given. The top 3 competitors received trophies that were really neat. Each had a gray marble colored wooden base, 3 tiers, and another base with a golden airplane on top. Top 4-10 were given certificates and 11-20 recognition. My team received 4 trophies, certificates and recognition. I'm very proud of everyone. We placed 5th in the competition with a good feeling that the OSU team will make nationals. It was a very exciting time for everyone. I believe I learned a lot and made some great friends too.
(video on post below)
NIFA stands for National Intercollegiate Flying Association. Every year they host a regional and national competition between colleges across the nation. At the end, each school is given trophies for the competitions they dominate.
Our week began on Sunday with an early rise to get the two 152s and a 172 ready and on their way to Riverside (KRVS). I was in N67951 that morning. Upon preflight I noticed that the beacon wasn't working. I asked one of my team members who also help in the hanger what he suggests. He walks over, asks me to push the tail down, and he taps the beacon...it works! Why does that not surprise me? Hehe
The flight was smooth and cool lasting all of 45 minutes leaving the rest of the day to register, a little bit of practice and the rest of things in order.
Monday started with more landing practice and opening ceremonies which were basically a welcome and the rules of the events. The first event was that night which was Aircraft Recognition. Aircraft Recognition is conducted by judge giving you 3 seconds to view a picture and 15 seconds to select the right make, name, and nick name such as "Cessna" "C-172N" "Skyhawk."
The official flying events started on Tuesday with Power off 180s which were cut short due to NIFA's crosswind component of 10 kts exceeded. The idea of the landing events is to hit the 0 line. One line is drawn 100 ft before and 200 ft after and then small lines every 10 ft. The Navigation event was given the go though. This competition is where the pilot is given 30 minutes to find 5 lat/long coordinates, plan headings, fuel enroute and time enroute. Both the pilot and safety pilot then fly the course and whoever gets the closest to their plan wins.
Wednesday it rained all afternoon and evening so all of the teams competed in ground events such as the Sim (timed turns, climbs, descents following a pattern). Points are deducted based on how many feet and rate of bank the pilot is off each second. It's very precise. The rest of the day was given to the preflight competition which allows each school 3 team members (one at a time) to find as many deficiencies as possible in 15 minutes. I found out later that many of them were small such as missing bolts and cotter pins. Our guys did very well in that along with Aircraft Recognition.
The winds were howling out of the west for runway 19R and 19L on Thursday, we waited around all afternoon hoping that they'd die down but refused to do so, thus the short field landings had to be put off until Friday. That evening, Spartan hosted a social event which consisted of Poker, Craps, and some other games along with a cookout. Even if you didn't get involved with the action, it was pleasant to talk with other teams. It’s amazing how similar we are even though we are of different insignia. I ended up making friends with many of the school team members including University of Central Missouri and Kansas State. The coach from University Nebraska Omaha even "paid" for me to try Craps with fake money which I lost in about 2 seconds, he came back with "Darn Oklahoma lost all my money!" We had a good laugh. I decided to stick to the socialization and the free hotdogs!
Friday was an exceptionally early rise but paid off with a beautiful sunrise. The judges asked us to arrive especially early to take advantage of the least amount of winds possible in hopes to get two flight events in; Short Field and message drop. It was a wonderful morning for landings, cool, calm, and clear also known as the three "c's" of a perfect NIFA day. The judges needed helpers to yell out which line each aircraft hit which I quickly volunteered not wanting to miss the action. It's a lot of fun being so close and involved. I have to say that each team had their great and not so great landings but over all did very well. This event was the big judgment on who would be the winners. The difference between the worst and best teams was a total of 5 points...which is incredibly close. We had 8 flights or "Heats" as NIFA calls them for the landing events all consisting of 5 aircraft from the different schools. There were 2 main judges on the flight line next to the runway and others scattered throughout the airport area watching closely judging traffic pattern, approach, and touchdown.
Me as the pilot and one of my team members or "drop master" competed in message drop. The idea was to fly at 200 feet at the approach and departure end thousand foot markers and drop a specified weighted box with a message as close as we could to two barrels. Our score was around 450 feet. We didn't win but it was a lot closer than 1,600 feet of another school. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
Friday evening was the banquet which was held at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum with full catering. All the teams came dressed in ties and pretty dresses. Before the banquet officially started, we were given the opportunity to have the entire museum to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed the displays. There was of course a kid’s area which many of us turned into 10 year olds playing with paper airplane shooters, vacuums, and other scientific experiments. I made the coolest looking paper airplane resembling an F-16
. The banquet started about 30 minutes later. Our guest speaker was one of the judges that happened to be a captain for FedEx but also had many enjoyable stories such as being a pilot at Top Gun along with giving tours and making good friends with the characters from the actual movie. The F-14 which is in the museum was from a sister squadron. His best story was when he was refueling the F-14 when all of the sudden the aircraft went to 100% pulling the fuel line off. He had no throttle control and was asking everyone he could for suggestions. Someone came on the radio saying that maintenance had installed the AOA wrong and to go vertical then throw out the landing gear. Thankfully it worked and he resumed throttle control. What a story!
After the great war stories, trophies and awards were given. The top 3 competitors received trophies that were really neat. Each had a gray marble colored wooden base, 3 tiers, and another base with a golden airplane on top. Top 4-10 were given certificates and 11-20 recognition. My team received 4 trophies, certificates and recognition. I'm very proud of everyone. We placed 5th in the competition with a good feeling that the OSU team will make nationals. It was a very exciting time for everyone. I believe I learned a lot and made some great friends too.
(video on post below)
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