posted on October 15, 2009.
The University of Oklahoma aviation students will host the annual National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Region VI flying and ground safety competition at OU’s Max Westheimer airport beginning Monday, Oct. 19. The competition will conclude with finals on Friday, Oct. 23.
NIFA is equivalent to the NCAA for collegiate aviation flight programs and has been in existence since 1919. Currently there are 77 schools in the NIFA consisting of 11 regions across the U.S. OU is in Region VI which consists of eight schools. All of Region VI is participating in this years’ Flying Safety Competition. The top three schools of each region are eligible to attend nationals in spring 2010.
“Beginning on Monday we will have about 20 training aircraft from the other region schools here at Max Westheimer airfield and we will be hosting the student teams,” said Richard Montgomery, student president of the event. “The competition site is rotated around the schools every few years but the hospitality afforded by the OU site and the support facilities found at Max Westheimer is always regarded favorably by the team members and is recognized as a top facility to host the competition.”
In total there will be about 100 student pilots on campus for the week. Teams participating include the Universities of Nebraska, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Southeastern Oklahoma State, Central Missouri, Parks College of St. Louis, Spartan Aviation College of Tulsa and OU.
The OU team will compete with a team of 10 flyers and is being coached by OU Department of Aviation certified flight instructors Tim Sheetz and Brian Parrish, both OU aviation graduates. The OU “Flying Sooners” team captains this year are aviation seniors Matt Johnson and Lance Turner. The team members will participate in several different competitive events in the air and on the ground throughout the week.
OU has been training aviation professionals since World War II and currently has several programs for students interested in aviation to pursue. Information about NIFA can be found at www.nifa.us. For more information about OU’s aviation programs, visit www.aviation.ou.edu.