CTC earns top two-year school honors at national flight competition
Special to Leader-Press
The Central Texas College (CTC) Aviation Science Flight Team earned top two-year school honors during the National Intercollegiate Flying Association Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) championship held recently at Indiana State University.
More than 500 student pilots from 28 four year, two-year and other flight training schools competed in a series of ground and flying events during the week-long competition.
CTC finished 16th overall with a 13th place finish in the flight events and tied for 18th in the ground events. CTC pilots also placed 13th in the Judges’ Trophy competition, which is based on the overall participation of a team’s individual members. Individual top 10 finishes were Aaron Adams, 10th place in Power-Off Landing; Dakota Hawkins, ninth place in Instrument Simulated Flight; and finishing in eighth place in CRM/Loft were Hawkins, pilot flying, and Adams, pilot monitoring. Adams was also named CTC’s outstanding team member.
In other competition categories, CTC placed as follows:
Aircraft Pre-flight Inspection: Josiah Whatley - 29th place; Noah Gamo - 40th place
Aircraft Recognition: Shawn Tschoepe - 79th place; Gamo - 104th place; Nathaniel George - 109th place; Sherman Burwell - 125th place; Whatley - 127th place
Computer Accuracy: Whatley - 66th place; Gamo - 73rd place; Adams - 85th place Tschoepe - 114th place; Burwell - 120th place
Ground Trainer: Adams - 23rd place; Hawkins - 33rd place
Message Drop: Gamo (dropmaster), Burwell (pilot) - 41st place; George (dropmaster), Tschoepe (pilot) 43rd - place
Navigation: Hawkins (pilot), Whatley (observer) 41st - place; Adams (pilot), Tschoepe (observer) - 45th place
Power-Off Landing: Hawkins - 49th - place; Tschoepe - 72nd place
Short Field Landing: Hawkins 35th - place; Adams - 39th place; Tschoepe - 70th place
Simulated Comprehensive Aircraft Navigation: Burwell - 80th place; Tschoepe - 107th place; Hawkins - 111th place; George - 114th place; Adams - 127th place
Top Scoring Pilot: Adams - 33rd place; Hawkins - 52nd place
The CTC Flight Team earned a spot in the national competition by finishing in third place at the Region IV Intercollegiate Flying Association Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) championship held last October. CTC earned third place in the flight events and fourth in the ground events for the third place overall regional finish.
CTC offers a two-year program leading to an associate in applied science degree and the commercial pilot certification with an instrument rating. The curriculum includes 14 core courses in aviation such as private flight, advanced air navigation, aviation meteorology, instrument flight and aerodynamics.