Sunday May 20, 2012 Awards and Returning from Salina  

The team's performance this year was both gratifying and humbling. Our first year at nationals in 2009 we placed 24 out of 33 teams in St. Louis. Not bad considering our size relative to the big schools. In 2010 we moved up a slot to 23rd in Terra Haute. Last year we moved up another place to 22nd in Columbus OH. Our goal this year was to break into the "teens." Given the lack of practice time (due to lack of funds), odds were that it was a long-shot. As coincidences go, SDCC's "Roll Call" chant at the General Briefing on the first day was prophetic. Kevin Brandt stands and delivers a cheer with the team following in chanting unison: "I, Believe, That, We, Will, Win..." -repeated 5 or 6 times followed by Dylan Jones standing alone, shouting "18th"!!! How ironic then that we should earn 18th place, right behind Liberty (16) and LeTourneau (17) Universities.  

You can see results of all the teams in the download from the previous report. Here is a summary of our performance: 

 Power-Off Landing (135 Competitors) 

1. Martin (28th)
2. Jones (34th)
3. Sims (53rd)
4. Judge (73rd)
5. Mayhugh (111th)

Short Field Landing (55 Competitors) - 2 Rounds (Event Shortened By Wind Limit) 

1. Mayhugh (16)
2. Martin (44)

 Navigation (80 Teams Competing) 

1. Mayhugh - Jones (28)
2. Judge - Harder (36)
3. Sims - Brandt (38)

Message Drop (27 Teams Competing - 1 Round (Event Shortened By Wind Limit) 

1. Mayhugh - Jones (11)

Ifr Simulator (28 Competitors) 

1. Elm (19)

 Simulated Comprehensive Air Navigation "Scan" (136 Competitors) 

1. Martin (22)
2. Jones (51)
3. Sims (89)
4. Harder (106)
5. Mayhugh (113)

Computer Accuracy "E6-B" (136 Competitors) 

1. Martin (5)
2. Harder (77)
3. Brandt (85)
4. Sims (112)
5. Gathman (130)

Aircraft Recognition "Acid" (136 Competitors) 

1. Mayhugh (87)
2. Martin (121)
3. Elm (123)
4. Jones (125)
5. Lowery (133)

Ground Trainer (Simulator Pattern) (55 Competitors) 

1. Martin (19)
2. Elm (30)

Preflight (Aircraft Preflight (55 Competitors) 

1. Mayhugh (42)
2. Sims (53)

Outstanding Team Member (Each Team Votes For Their "Mvp") 

• William Lowery

National Rankings (Top 136 Of 305 Competitors Are Ranked) 

1. Martin (50th Overall)  
2. Jones (76th  Overall ) - TIE  
3. Mayhugh (76th Overall ) - TIE  
4. Elm (131st  Overall ) 

 Sdcc Team Members 

1. Kyle Mayhugh (senior)
   2012 Flight Team Captain
2. Dylan Jones (junior)
   2013 Flight Team Captain (elect)
3. Paul Martin (senior)
4. Jenna Sims (junior)
5. Mike Elm (sophomore)
6. Jackson Judge (sophomore)
7. William Lowery (sophomore)
8. Laura-Beth Gathman (freshman)
9. Kayla Harder (freshman)
10. Kevin Brandt (freshman

Sdcc Flight Team Coaches 

• Captain Denny Breslin - Advisor and Head Coach
• Titus Dinkins - coach
• Captain Jeff Satterwhite - coach
• Captain Jill Geary - coach
• Colonel Steve Geary - coach
• Sean Brennan - coach 

With flight plans filed and planes packed, one thing remained an obstacle to our departure from Salina. Announcements at Saturday night's awards banquet were nearly drowned out by the din of a hard rainfall on the pavilion roof. "The rain is Tess, the is fire Joe and they call the wind Mariah" - words to the old Kingston Trio song seemed to describe the heat and wind, but the severe thunderstorm that had bore-sighted Salina and sent us scurrying to hangar our aircraft just before the banquet had split in two, sparing the flight line. But "Tess" did not pass completely without leaving a wet impression during the banquet.  

 By the time the awards celebrations were over, the streets were nearly dry again and the skies to the west looked promising for an 0800 departure in Sunday morning. The thing we fear most on these long trips aside from a mechanical breakdown is the weather. It can close off entire states from air navigation and ground flights for days. But in this case our team was blessed with good VFR (visual) weather allowing Dylan and Jenna to launch on schedule for El Cajon with stops in Borger TX, Almagordo  NM, and Tucson AZ. Jackson and Kayla followed close behind and stayed in radio contact the whole way home. Kyle and I launched an hour or so later making only one fuel stop 5 hours later in a town near Winslow AZ. From there it was a little over 2 hours to Gillespie Field. Even so we were able to talk to each other on the radio and monitor each other's progress.  

Titus and Will Lowery dropped Mike Elm and Laura-Beth Gathman off in Colorado Springs before driving over the Rockies on their 22 hour drive home with an over-night in St. George, Utah. Time in the van did not go wasted. Of course some slept, some studied, but the best product of the time spent in the SDCC van was the music video written, choreographed and "filmed" on the iPhone by Coach Titus Dinkins. We will post that video in time - most likely on YouTube. By 3pm Monday everyone was home safe and sound.   

The team will debrief performance and inventory the gear before signing off until the fall semester.  

With completion of SAFECON National Championships comes the end of the reign of Captain Kyle Mayhugh. I would like to thank Kyle and his leadership team for their service to the team. I also welcome his successor,Captain Dylan Jones. Thanks to all who donated time, energy and funds to the team. Thanks especially to the coaches who donated their precious time nights and weekends.

Read the "Salina Journal" SAFECON article. 

  

2012 = 18th!!!

We came in right behind Liberty and LeTourneau University in 18th place. At the opening ceremonies Flight Team Captain-elect Dylan Jones concluded our "roll call chant" of "I Believe We Will Win" with a postscript: "18th Place" - and so it is. How ironic.

There was a severe thunderstorm watch yesterday just as the awards banquet was about to start so Captain Jeff Satterwhite (SDCC Coach), Titus and I went to the airport and moved the planes into the hangar. We did that to avoid possible hail damage that would have extended our 10-day road trip for an indefinite period.

With planes safe, we slept better and this morning at 0430 San Diego time we left the hotel for the airport to preflight the planes and get underway.

Posted here are the results of SAFECON 2012 . We will recap SDCC's successes in a later update. Please pray for safe flights, low headwinds and safe road travel for Titus and the pilots in the van for a 22-hour drive to San Diego.

Thanks to Captain Jill and Steve Geary for their incredible assistance at all levels and to Titus Dinkins for his indefatigable leadership and energy while organizing and inspiring our pilots! Captain Jeff Satterwhite, an American B-777 captain volunteers to coach our team but he is also here as a NIFA judge. Thanks to all our supporters, donors and for those who prayed for our safety and success. God Bless you!

Captain Denny Breslin

       

Wednesday May 16 - Power–Off Spot Landings

Another flying day included Power-off spot landings. Landings are judged on how close to the line they land, but rules require precise pattern work including precise altitude, heading, airspeed and ground track. Landings are 3-dimensional, so precision must be reflected in the vertical plane by flying a glide-slope or approach angle to the landing spot. Pilots must be at an exact speed at a precise altitude a 'certain distance" from the touchdown spot which is a line in the middle of a box painted on the runway.

The "spot" moves depending on wind so experience and judgement reward those with flight discipline. Judges line the runway and measure the distance the tires touch down from the landing line. Planes cannot bounce or porpoise, float, or fly erratically. The difference is the variability of the wind. The "certain distance" from the landing line depends on the wind which is ultimately undependable! Power off landings are done with the engine power at idle so pilots typically glide about a mile without engine thrust to touch down on the landing line. Try it at home! It's not so easy!

There was a stiff crosswind blowing when Paul Martin taxied out in Heat 4. We could not see his landings because the runway was too far from the ramp, so we'll have to wait for the results. Paul said he had to go-around on one approach because he was too high and he thought his next landing was "in the box". Kyle Mayhugh followed in Heat 10, then Jenna Sims in Heat 17. By then the wind was picking up. Dylan Jones flew Heat 24 and Jackson Judge was in Heat 30. Crosswinds are very tricky because you have to hold the glideslope with ailerons and rudders "cross-controlled" so the plane is flying "wing – down (into the wind) and opposite rudder (to align the longitudinal axis of the plane with the runway centerline) while still flying a perfect approach.

Dylan Jones, Jenna Sims and Kayla Harder gave the safety presentation in the American Airlines Safety Award. The judges were two American Airlines captains (including Captain Jeff Satterwhite, AA B-777 captain who is also one of our coaches). The American Airlines Safety Award is given to the team that demonstrates the best safety program at "SAFECON" - which stands for Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference – and gives the best presentation of their program.

At 5pm Kyle Mayhugh and Dylan Jones met the judges for the Crew Resource Management (CRM) event where they flew together as a "crew" in a multi-engine aircraft on a simulated mission. They were given a navigation route from Reno to South Lake Tahoe and graded on how well they employed CRM techniques to solve problems. Deviation from any route, altitude, clearance etc. resulted in penalty points. It is an event designed to test attention to detail and any missed note or procedure is grounds for disqualification or lost points.

Wednesday afternoon I flew up to Nampa Idaho to attend the International Association of Missionary Aviation conference at MAF headquarters.

Thursday May 17 – Short Field Landings

As I was attending the IAMA conference Paul Martin continued spot landings in Heat 4 of the Short-Field landings. Short Field landings differ from Power off landings in that pilots fly with some power on the plane but must reduce and land without power in a full-stall attitude – on the landing line. Wind is a factor, but not as much as in Power off landings. But before Kyle could fly in Heat 10, the wind picked up with gusts over 25 knots – the NIFA limit. Flying was canceled for the day. Later, Jenna and Kyle competed in the Preflight Event, and Paul and Mike Elm flew the Ground Trainer Event in the Frasca simulator. Ground Trainer Event requires the pilot to fly a 5 minute pattern of turns, climbs and descents to precise standards with points deducted for errors in headings, speed or altitudes.

 Throughout the week aviation dignitaries visited NIFA to allow students to learn about different aviation careers. Thursday afternoon, Col. Jim Dutton flew into Salina in a NASA T-38. Dutton participated in SAFECON between 1988 and 1991 while in the Air Force Academy. He has had the opportunity to pilot the STS-131 on a resupply mission to the International Space Station in 2010. Dr. Stephen Robinson accompanied Col. Dutton on his flight to Salina. Several of our students toured a DC-8 NASA used to fly through Thunderstorms to collect data.

I returned from Idaho at 1030 pm following strong tailwinds over Wyoming. I wanted to be in Salina Friday morning for the final round of spot landings and Message Drop. I understood better why the landings were canceled Thursday when I was on approach to land on Runway 17. With 100 knots reading on my airspeed indicator, my groundspeed was 55 knots only 1000 feet above the ground. Winds so strong near the ground were not going to be a good sign for Friday…

Friday May 18 – Message Drop – They call the wind Mariah, but we call it Annoying!

The weather forecast for today was not encouraging. The sky was clear but the Kansas winds were expected to blow strong later in the morning. We briefed at 0630. Most college students are not big fans of early wake-ups, but the cook at the Webster Conference Center had breakfast ready at 5:30 and Kyle and Dylan rolled 91E into the queue for message drop at 0700. True to form the winds picked up and after only one round of Message Drop. NIFA officials switched back to Short field landings to get as many in as they could.

That didn't last very long. They suspended flying for the day at 0955 and as it turns out, for all flying events at the National Championships.

It's unfortunate that more flying wasn't done earlier in the week when weather was perfect. As Rosanne Rose Anna-danna used to say, "…it's always something!"

We were worried whether the planes were tied down against 35-40 knot winds so after a final check the team joined 300 fellow competitors in a social event on the KSU campus.

The next update will be following the Awards Ceremony Saturday night. There is no way to guess how anyone did in the flying events. The landings and message drop were accomplished in fits and starts and no one could get a rhythm going.

        

More news from the SDCC flight team....   (click photos to enlarge)

Friday May 11, 2012 

Friday dawned dark and dreary, and the Flight Team woke up weak and weary… Okay, so much for Faux Poe! But the clouds did threaten rain and wind. Drained from 2 long days 2 time-zones east of home, 0630 came pretty early for our young aviators. But we had to be at the airport early to practice landings in heats scheduled by NIFA officials to work all the schools in before competition starts Monday.

Most everyone got a chance for at least one power-off spot landing and one short-field (power-on) landing. The forecast for Sunday was for wind and rain so we wanted to get as much practice as we could. While the flying pilots were practicing spot landings, others were pushing and pulling planes into and out of position, refueling, and cleaning bugs off the windows and wings.

The runway used for spot landings is so far from the hangar that we can't see to coach the pilots from the ground. Each of the landing pilots flew with another landing pilot to take notes and help learn landmarks around the landing pattern. From all accounts our landings were consistently good. Not perfect, just good. They left room for improvement. There are probably a dozen schools here practicing with the bulk of the competitors due in Saturday.

Of all the events in competition, landings and message drop are the most intense and competitive. They also award the most points. But the other events are challenging too, so Mike Elm went to the Frasca simulator to practice the "IFR" event. IFR stands for instrument flight rules – and refers to a flight in a simulator from one airport to another in instrument weather utilizing all the skills one learns to fly in the clouds including tracking radials, holding, instrument approaches and go-arounds. 

Dylan Jones and Kyle Mayhugh went to the Paradigm simulator to practice the "CRM" event. CRM stands for Crew Resource Management and refers to a flight in a multi-engine aircraft from one airport to another, similar to what the airlines call "LOFT" - or Line Oriented Flight Training. The pilots act as a crew. Kyle is the captain and Dylan is the first officer. They are tested on how they follow procedures, fly the aircraft, interact with each other and simulated "passengers". In short – it is about how they "manage their resources". They are graded on how well they do all those functions but the real points come from the decisions they make assuming they will be presented with a "problem" that requires them to divert to a different airport.

Paul Martin, Jenna Sims, Kayla Harder, Kevin Brandt and Laura-Beth Gathman worked navigation problems on their circular slide-rules known as the "E-6B" for the Computer Accuracy event. Will Lowery has been doing most of the driving but he's also a US Navy veteran and will be competing in the ACID event – also known as AirCraft Identification.

Saturday May 12, 2012 

We got to the airport to practice landings and were told that we were at our limit and other schools were getting priority. It didn't matter that we had been saving our money for practice until we got here, and left early to have a couple extra days practice at the actual competition airport. So we put our heads together and Jenna came up with some intelligence that one of the other teams was practicing at a nearby airport and had even chalked the runway with landing boxes (300' marked each 50'). So we jumped in our planes and filled the van and hurried over to the Abilene Airport about 25 miles northeast. It turned out to be marvelous serendipity!

The tiny airport was all ours. We were able to fly the patterns for landings without burning fuel and expensive air time waiting for other airplanes in the pattern. Kyle Mayhugh, Dylan Jones, Paul Martin, Jenna Sims and Jackson Judge were all able to fly both power-off and short-field landings and we were able to stand next to the runway and grade each one up-close and personal. 

The most difficult event to practice for is "message drop" - which is flown 200 feet over the runway at 100mph. The flight pattern is flown like a landing rectangle except instead of landing, the plane 

levels at 200 feet and flies on a line upwind of a target on the ground. The window is opened and the "drop master" drops a 3-ounce box just far enough upwind to drift back onto the target. The distance the box lands from the target is measured and the total distance of two drops is added together for the score. Closest to the target wins. Kyle and Dylan flew together, Jenna and Kevin flew together and Dylan also flew with Will Lowery. I flew my plane for the drop-

masters to practice from the right seat and coached them as they guided the plane to a spot they calculated would be the perfect drop spot. At the end of the day we flew many more sorties than would have been possible back in Salina and we all agreed it was a great day.

Sunday May 13, 2012 

The team honored the Lord's Day with a group devotion at the Webster Conference Center. The Christian conference center sits on 20 acres of woods and lakes and is a serene reminder of the quiet Kansas country. It was a natural reminder of God's great countenance and would have been an even greater reminder if the mosquitos weren't so large and so hungry! (Mom, send mosquito spray and anti-itch cream!)

We spent Sunday preparing for the ground events scheduled for Monday. 

Monday May 14, 2012 – SAFECON 2012 is Underway 

Today started out with a traditional "General Briefing" which is everybody's favorite because of the creative ways team think to respond to the NIFA "roll call". Last year John Crotts became famous for "ATIS San Diego" - kind of an inside joke, and this year SDCC was led in a cheer "I – Believe – We – Will – Win" - a-la-San Diego State. Lest anyone think our small school was too big for it's pants, Dylan Jones added - "18th place!" to complete the chant. Our goal this year is to break into the "teens." In 2009 we were 24th of 33 teams. In 2010 we finished 23rd. Last year we were 22nd. Our goal is to break into the teens so, "18th" is not an unreasonable goal.

At 10am our E-6B competitors, Paul, Jenna, Kayla, Kevin and Laura-Beth went in for their 90 minute ground competition. They emerged some thinking - "wow, that was really hard" and some thinking - "wow, I that was really easy" - so we'll see... Results are not posted until the Awards Banquet Saturday night so until then, performance postulations  are merrily premature speculations. The ACID event was next with Kyle, Paul, Dylan, Mike and Will. I walked in at the end while they were reviewing some of the airplanes used in the ID pictures and realized I could only recognize a handful of the dozens of pictures on the test. Cadets from the US Air Force Academy and airplane-super-geeks with photographic memories usually do well on ACID tests. The final event of the day was SCAN – Simulated Comprehensive Air Navigation. This is a very difficult test, the equivalent of an FAA knowledge exam for commercial and instrument pilots. Kyle, Dylan, Jenna, Kayla and Paul sweated through the exam then compared notes after.

The team left Tuesday, some in a van and some in the competition airplanes. Coach Titus Dinkins drove 1200 miles with William Lowery, Paul Martin, Kevin Brandt, Kayla Harder, and Laura-Beth Gathman. Michael Elm and Jackson Judge flew the Cessna while Dylan Jones and Jenna Sims flew the Cherokee. I flew with team captain Kyle Mayhugh on Wednesday and despite different departure times and routes we all met within 15 minutes of each other in Oklahoma City.

 

Thursday May 10 - Oklahoma City - FAA High Altitude Training 

We left a day early to attend the FAA's high altitude training and pressure chamber at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI). The special training qualifies pilots for a logbook endorsement to fly above 25,000 feet in pressurized aircraft. Classroom training taught about the causes and symptoms of hypoxia and the pressure chamber allowed us to experience it. The hypobaric (low pressure) chamber simulates pressure experienced at 25,000 feet during rapid decompression. Each pilot had a chance to feel the subtle, and not-so-subtle effects of hypoxia as it progressed over 5 minutes. Some had to put their oxygen masks on after only a few minutes. Others held out the full 5 minutes but tests showed their functionality made it impossible to control an airplane after only 5 minutes of hypoxia. It was incredibly valuable training. Thanks to Titus for setting it up. Such training is difficult to get and very expensive. But for us it was free at FAA headquarters. 

             

 Spatial Disorientation 
Everyone had a chance to sit in the Barany chair, a device used in training for spatial orientation. Kayla was the first to try the chair, blindfolded, then spun about the vertical axis while keeping her head upright. Jenna and Paul were asked to perform tasks such as determine direction of rotation or rapidly change the orientation of their head, or attempt to point at a stationary object after the chair is stopped. The chair is used to demonstrate spatial disorientation effects, proving that the vestibular system is not to be trusted in flight. So much for flying by the seat of the pants!

          

Flight to Salina and answer to prayer. 

After training we flew and drove 250 miles to Salina and tied down the planes. The van took 4 hours, the airplanes 1.5! 

We are staying at the Webster Conference Center, a secluded Christian center just north of Salina. The weather has been phenomenal until Friday, but even so, it is flyable. We asked for prayer last Sunday at Shadow Mountain Community Church (archives) because weather hovering around the border near El Paso TX posed a threat along our route. So Pastor Jeremiah introduced the flight team during services and prayed for good weather. Behold, our prayers were answered! The weather stayed south and even though we had to adjust our flight plans to the north, the temperatures were mild which meant the planes were not affected by high density altitudes at the airports at higher elevations on the north route.

Late in the evening we checked into the WCC and lights-out was a welcome relief for some very tired pilots.

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Download the SAFECON ERAU Regional Results - Click here! 

See the Official SAFECON Results page and Rankings - Click here! 

 Watch the 2011 SAFECON Video...

SAFECON is officially over – except for the gettin’ home part…
 

SAFECON is officially over – except for the gettin’ home part…
Tonight’s award ceremony was scary. You never know how you are doing relative to the other teams – even as the winners are announced – because different events are worth different points. As the names were announced for the ground events we did not hear our name very often. However when it came to the flying events, we took more than our share. So as the time came closer for the announcement of the team standings, we held our collective SDCC breaths as the results were revealed.

The point totals were very close, the competition was tough and you could tell there was increased focus and intensity this year. While we worked harder than ever and scored higher than in previous years – so did our competitors! The good news is that our pilots did very well despite our size and funding. We are very proud of our team! 

There were nearly 100 pilot-students competing in this year’s Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference. Next year, the competition will be in Salinas CA, hosted by San Jose State University November 8-13, 2012.   Please pray for our safe return!
 

 

 The results:

1. 368 points - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
2. 115 points – Mt. San Antonio College
3. 96 points - San Diego Christian College  
4. 86 points - San Jose State University 
5. 28 points - Orange Coast College

Top three teams will be going to national collegiate flying championships at Kansas State University in Salina KS next May. SDCC will be going to nationals for 4th year in a row! 

 Flight Events Ranking – SDCC 2nd place  

Ground Events Ranking – SDCC tied for 4th place with Orange Coast College
Navigation – all three of our Nav teams scored  

• Mayhugh/Jones – 4th place
• Coyle/Jackson – 5th place
• Sims/Crotts – 6th place

  Power off landings – (top ten places score points)  

• Northcutt – 8th place
• Mayhugh – 9th place

Short Field landings – (top ten places score points)  

• Jones – 7th place
• Mayhugh – 8th place 
• Martin – 9th place 

Message Drop – (top ten places score points)  

• Jones (dropmaster) Mayhugh (pilot) – 4th place 
• Lowery (dropmaster) Northcutt (pilot) – 10th place
• Conlan (dropmaster) Martin (pilot) – 12th place (no points)
• Jasso (dropmaster) Jones (pilot) – 14th place (no points) 
• Gathman (dropmaster) Sims (pilot) – 15th place (no points)

Computer Accuracy (E6B) (top ten places score points) 

• Paul Martin – 7th place 

 TOP WOMAN PILOT AWARD – Jenna Sims  

Outstanding Team Member – Bryanna Raue

PREFLIGHT

Jenna Sims, John Crotts and Kyle Mayhugh showed up at the airport for the Preflight event at 0900 only to discover the Mt SAC team was scheduled at the same time. So they were rescheduled for 1pm only to find ERAU was there. With both of us having Preflight competitors in the SCAN event back on ERAU campus 8 miles away, they had to hold the SCAN event until our guys finished Preflight an hour later. The Preflight airplane was an R-182, similar to my own except mine is turbocharged with an Oxygen system. Even so we think we found most of the discrepancies in the 15 minute time period allowed per contestant.  

SCAN – Simulated Comprehensive Air Navigation

Immediately after Kyle and John were finished I whipped them up to the ERAU Academics building for SCAN while Jenna did her preflight. Unfortunately the 40-question, timed event had already begun so they put Kyle and John in a separate room to do the exam on their own. Reports from the SCAN team of Kyle Mayhugh, John Crotts, Dylan Jones, Shon Northcutt and Jackson Judge are that they did well but the test was difficult. Tests are scored based on most correct answers in the least time. Immediately after SCAN, I whipped Kyle Mayhugh and Dylan Jones back to the Prescott airport to compete in the CRM event.
 

E6B Computer Accuracy

The E6B event is one we’ve been working hard on all semester. There are a number of questions competitors must solve using formulas they have memorized using the circular slide rule. There is a calculations side, which includes conversions, and there is a wind-component side for computing airspeeds, ground speeds, cross-winds etc. Our E6B team included senior Paul Martin, Jenna Sims, Sean Conlan, Bryanna Raue and Kayla Harder. 

CRM – Crew Resource Management

Kyle and Dylan spent one hour reviewing the fight scenario given by the CRM judges who incidentally were our own CRM Coach Captain Jeff Satterwhite and Captain Jill Geary. CRM is an event where pilots work together on a flight to get their passengers to their destination – knowing full well that “something” would go wrong, requiring them to divert to an alternate airport. 

Their flight started in Tucson with a landing planned for Phoenix. It was a complicated departure procedure requiring pilots to be very sharp to read all the notes pertaining to 

altitudes, routing, and navigation. Pilots are not held responsible for knowing the systems of the unfamiliar airplane since it was a Piper Seminole – a twin engine aircraft – and few of the pilots are multi-engine rated. But the simulator was substandard by our measure, with a left turning tendency pilots had to fight the whole flight (not a realistic scenario in real life). There were some other quirks that made it difficult to operate the simulator - from the judges standpoint - that were frustrating for both judges and competitors. We will suggest in the future that the school providing the simulator have someone on staff to help run it so the judges can concentrate on the event. 

SAFETY INTERVEW

Last year SDCC won two safety awards based on demonstrated safe behavior on the field as well as a safety presentation given to judges. This year Sean Conlan and Bryanna Raue put together a very nice presentation – which was an enhanced and upgraded version of our presentation at the national championships last May. At the last minute was asked Paul Martin to sit in and contribute because of his broad experience with the flights and experiences that have resulted in the changes to our SOP over the years. SAFETY Event judge, Captain Frank Maine, said the team had an excellent presentation.

    

END OF THE DAY

Another long day – but everyone is relieved the competition is over. It is stressful, but at the same time it is stimulating and unique. The CRM simulator didn’t finish until after 7pm last night so the team went out to dinner earlier and I took Kyle and Dylan out on the way back from the airport.
Sunday the team will attend church at the Willow Hills Baptist Church at 11am. Willow Hills was generous enough to allow our pilots to sleep in their gym from Monday to Friday, and loaned us a church van to transport our pilots to and from the airport, hotel and ERAU campus. We want to share our appreciation by meeting the church family who helped our Flight Team in Prescott.
 

Short-field spot landings followed immediately after. Same pilots, same order – same results. Unlike the Power-off event, Short-field landings allow pilots to use power on the approach with the restriction that once reduced, power cannot be re-applied. We are anxious to see the how we did, but results are not posted until the Sunday night awards banquet.
 

Jones were in the first heat. Kyle and Dylan are famous for their “bones masks” – if you look carefully at the picture right titled “Mayhugh & Jones Bones” you’ll see why!

• Paul Martin was pilot and Sean Conlan dropmaster, in heat 3;  
• Dylan Jones was pilot and Rio Jasso dropmaster, in heat 5; 
• Shon Northcutt was pilot and Will Lowery dropmaster, in heat 4; 
• Jenna Simms was pilot and Laura-Beth Gathman dropmaster in the final heat 7.

      

   

Flight Team traveled to Prescott AZ Monday November 7 to compete in the Region II collegiate flying championships. 16 Team members, led by Captain Kyle Mayhugh are competing in 5 flying events and 7 ground events [see description of events on our website] to determine which teams will earn a bid to the national championships. The National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) SAFECON championships will be at Kansas State University in Salina KS next May. Team coaches are former Flight Team members Titus Dinkins and Mathew Belden. Team Advisor and Head Coach is Captain Denny Breslin – Director of Aviation at SDCC.

SDCC’s Flight Team competes in Region II, which includes California, Nevada and Arizona. We will be competing against the host school, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Cypress College, Orange Coast College, Mt. San Antonio College, San Jose State University and the US Air Force Academy. The top 3 teams receive a bid to the national championships.

SDCC is the smallest college competing nationally. We have competed in the past 3 national championships in St. Louis MO, Terre Haute IN and most recently Ohio State University in Columbus OH. We are the only college flying their own aircraft to the competition from as far away as the west coast. No other college flies nearly so far as we, nor do they get to enjoy the incredible adventure of navigating and flying over the Rockies and across the plains. We have 40 students in our aviation program and 23 of them are on the Flight Team.

Monday Chad Coyle and Jackson Judge flew 2 competition planes to Prescott, to join the rest of the team for landing and navigation event practice in the rarified air of the beautiful Prescott Valley.

Competition started Thursday and will continue through Sunday culminating with the awards ceremony Sunday night. The weather is blustery with temperatures in the midforties during the day and dropping to below freezing at night. Wind chill could send temperatures into the freezing range when a cold front forecast to move through the region passes through on Friday.

The Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON)

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is the host for the Region II championships this year. Our team assembled for dinner last night. Some flew, some drove, but all made it safely to the beautiful Prescott Valley. Two days of hard practice resulted in a tired but enthusiastic group of young aviators. With weather threatening to cancel some flying events later in the week, the judges moved the flying events to Thursday and rescheduled the brief for 0700 this morning – which is 0600 for our Pacific time zone students. So a long day and short night meant early to bed fore everyone.

We brought 16 competitors led by Captain Kyle Mayhugh. All the guys stayed in a gymnasium generously supplied, along with two passenger vans, by the Willow Creek Baptist Church. Thanks to them for taking care of our pilots.

The lady-pilots, including Penguins, Bryanna Raue, Laura-Beth Gathman, and Kayla Harder stayed in a hotel along with veteran competitor Jenna Sims.

Following the morning briefing, Navigation teams of Kyle Mayhugh and Dylan Jones, Jenna Sims and John Crotts, and Chad Coyle and Jackson Judge flew their navigation routes in clear but windy weather. Paul Martin flew as our sole pilot in the IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) event. Pauls parents Brian and Naomi, drove out from Orange County to watch Paul compete in his final year. Later this afternoon Kyle Mayhugh, Alex Closs, Mike Visnofsky, Shon Northcutt and Dylan Jones competed in the ACID (Aircraft Identification) event at the ERAU campus.

We have the help of Captain Jeff Satterwhite (CRM coach) and Jill and Steve Geary (administrative volunteers) to help out and to share judging duties. Karin Murphy, Shon's Mom and her husband Mike also joined us in Prescott to watch her son compete. Tonight the team was treated to dinner by the Martin's. Food at the airport is non-existent and breakfast was not an option with an 0700 brief so they picked up fix in's for breakfast and lunch which were served later in the RV provided by Coach Mathew Belden.

It was warm in the sun but very chilly in the breeze when the sun went behind clouds. Temperature on the line today was 55 degrees with a 7 knot wind. Forecast is improving for the weekend but we still expect rain from a strong storm rolling into southern California today. 

Tomorrow will be a critical day with landing brief at 0800 followed by all the flying events. They are going to try to fit short-field and power-off landings as well as message drop in tomorrow. It will be a long, busy day on the ramp. With conditions constantly changing, we pray that our practice time will prove valuable in this high-desert, high-density altitude airport. Today the winds changed direction 3 times. Hopefully tomorrow they will be steady and light.

More from Prescott tomorrow. Please keep our young aviators (and their Advisor) in your prayers for safety, for health in the cold, for success in competition and for endurance in the face of accumulating fatigue over the long days on the ramp. 

Tomorrow we brief. 

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NIFA  Region II College Flying Championships

SDCC pilots return home safe from 2200 mile trip to SAFECON in Columbus... 

SDCC Flight Team returned home today after 2 full weeks away. 

We are thankful to be home safe and sound. You really appreciate California weather if you've spent two weeks flying in everyone else's weather!

Here are the results from the week of competition:

SDCC scored 22nd out of 28 colleges. In 2010 we were 24th of 28. In 2009 we were 23rd.

Navigation (1 Round – 2 rounds were cancelled due to weather)

• 19th Clayton Hawley (Pilot) Aaron Varela (Observer) 

Power-Off Landings (5 competitors)

• 53rd Shon Northcutt
• 113th Aaron Varela
• 119th Dylan Jones
• DQ Paul Martin
• DQ Kyle Mayhugh 

Short Field Landings (5 competitors)

• 32nd Jenna Sims
• 57th Dylan Jones
• 76th Paul Martin
• 117th Kyle Mayhugh
• 122nd Aaron Varela

Message Drop ( 2 rounds) 

• 16th Dylan Jones (drop master) Kyle Mayhugh (Pilot)
• DQ Aaron Penney (drop master) Frank Razo (Pilot)

Computer Accuracy (E6-B- 5 competitors) 

• 27th Paul Martin
• 79th Aaron Penney
• 120th Dylan Jones
• 129th Frank Razo
• 135th John Crotts

Aircraft Recognition (A/C ID - 5 competitors) 

• 61st Kyle Mayhugh
• 68th Aaron Varela
• 82nd Paul Martin
• 108th Clayton Hawley
• 132nd Dylan Jones

Ground Trainer - (Simulator patterns – 2 competitors) 

• 30th Clayton Hawley
• 42nd Paul Martin

Crew Resource Management (1 competition team of two pilots) 

• DQ – Clayton Hawly (Pilot) Shon Northcutt (First Officer)

IFR Simulated Flight (Instrument Flight) - one competitor per team 

• 8th Paul Martin (our best showing)

Simulated Comprehensive Air Navigation Exam (5 competitors) 

• 86th Shon Northcutt 
• 88th Clayton Hawley
• 93rd Kyle Mayhugh
• 109th Aaron Varela
• 117th Jenna Sims

Preflight Event (2 competitors) 

• 30th Aaron Varela
• 33rd John Crotts

Outstanding Team Member (voted by his teammates) 

• Dylan Jones

Top Male Pilot Order 

• 74th Paul Martin
• 115th Dylan Jones
• 122nd Clayton Hawley

We were unable to update you on the trip home for the past couple days because frankly we were way too busy trying to get home! 

Sunday morning 5 planes departed Ohio State University for refueling stops in Metropolis IL and Branson MO. From there 3 planes intended to fly direct to Grand Prairie airport near DFW and 2 were to stop in Paris Texas for fuel. As we worked our way south and west in 45 knot headwinds, clouds and rain, the storms thickened in the DFW Metroplex.

Paul Martin and I stopped in Paris but as we finished fueling the wind and rain began. We decided to spend the night. The day had been very long and the 1.5 hour flight to Grand Prairie would have been too dangerous given the thunder and lightning just over the horizon.

Mat Belden, Dylan Jones and Kyle Mayhugh were closer to Dallas. Mat made it to Grand Prairie from the east side but Dylan and Kyle, who were 30 minutes behind Mat diverted to Perrin Texas due to weather. So at the end of the day we had 5 airplanes at 3 different airports!

Next morning we were able to land at KGPM (Grand Prairie) just ahead of another storm that passed over DFW and damaged 27 American Airlines jets with hail. Our planes were safe.

The plan was to spend part of the day touring the American Airlines Flight Academy where American trains it's airline pilots. As it turned out, the building weather allowed us to decide early to cancel plans to fly Monday and take advantage of the opportunity to tour American's facilities. Thanks to Captain John Hale, AA's Vice President of Flight, for making a 4-hour simulator block available to us so each student could fly the new $30 million dollar full motion B-737 simulator for 30 minutes. They went into the sim with instructor Rick Padgett in groups of 3 and each were allowed to fly several approaches from the captain's seat. They took off from San Jose, made a left turn and flew an ILS approach to San Francisco airport. They did one with no clouds and another with weather obscuring the airport with the HUD or "Head's Up Display." Hey, jets are easy to fly eh?

Of all that has been said and done over the past two weeks – nothing can compare with the experience the team enjoyed today.

While one group was in the simulator, others were able to watch flight attendants practicing drills in the emergency evacuation simulators. After lunch they got an opportunity that few – very few – people ever see: Systems Operations Control. SOC is the heartbeat of American Airlines. The team was taken to the AA "War Room" or situation room overlooking SOC and looked down on a giant room full of planners, dispatchers, crew schedulers, weather forecasters, equipment schedulers, and maintenance schedulers to name a few. Each of American's 3600 daily flights is individually scheduled, dispatched, and continuously tracked by one or a team of dispatchers. While we were in SOC a storm passed over DFW damaging 27 airplanes and stacking 50 airplanes on the ramp. We saw how American puts the pieces back together when a storm disrupts the operations in a major hub.

"Off schedule operations" may seem chaotic to passengers on hundreds of flights during a storm, and to some extent, it is. But only by seeing these professional experts reconstruct and reschedule the planes and the crews to get them all where they are going at the end of the day, can you really appreciate how difficult and complex it is.

The final treat Monday was a visit to the pilot's union headquarters. As an American pilot for over 30 years, I spent 6 years as the pilot representative for the Los Angeles domicile and sat on the board of directors for 3 terms. I also spent 4 years as the National Communications Committee chairman. The purpose of the visit to the union was to show the labor side of commercial flying. Pilot careers are molded by contracts negotiated by a union's collective bargaining agreement. Captain Dave Bates, president of the Allied Pilots Association took time out to talk to the team about how he became an airline pilot and the prospects for future employment our young pilots will enjoy.

What started as a busy day gathering planes from airports across the Metroplex, ended with a BBQ dinner and the gracious hospitality of AA Captain Mark Chapman and his wife Karen. Their offer to house and feed the team was truly above and beyond our expectations. The Chapmans offered to transport and accompany the team all day long and as it turns out – all night long. I'd like to thank and acknowledge them and my good friend Captain Jeff Sheets who also helped transport and entertain our pilots as they toured the Flight Academy. Thanks so much to you folks for helping to make our stay in DFW an incredible experience!

SDCC Flight Team flying back to San Diego slowed by storms...

       

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The awards banquet Saturday night showed SDCC improved over last year. We were 22nd overall in the standings. Paul Martin was 8th in IFR (instrument) Flying Event.. Jenna Sims was our best lander and we took 16th in the Message Drop event shortened by weather.

When I have a chance I'll post more results. Right now the SDCC Flight Team is working back to San Diego amidst storms and strong – 50 knot – headwinds.

Sunday night the team was split up on arrival into Texas. Two aircraft stopping for fuel in Paris Texas tied down and spent the night.

Two aircraft flying the arrival in to Grand Prairie Airport diverted to Perrin Texas – 50 miles east of DFW.

One aircraft made it to GPM just ahead of a huge lightning and thunderstorm.

Monday the weather looks better. Our plan is to launch at 0700 to GPM (Grand Prairie – 10 miles south of DFW), regroup, and tour the American Airlines Flight Academy. We are scheduled to fly the Boeing 737 simulators later in the morning.

If the plan holds up and weather cooperates, we will take off for El Paso later Monday afternoon.

However we have discovered that the weather is no respecter of schedules or planning so we'll continue to ask for prayer for safety and good weather.

I'll update when I get some time but for now, our time is compressed by weather and flying. 

 Final Day: SAFECON 2011 Columbus, OH

Today – miraculously – dawned clear and calm. A light radiation fog layer hugged the ground but the sun was shining strong and the air was magnificent for the final day of competition.

The only event on the agenda was the final round – round 5 – of the short-field power-on landings. 3 rounds of message drop were cancelled and 2 rounds of visual navigation were cancelled due to weather and time. It is unfortunate that not everyone was able to fly and not all the events were completed but such it is when you can't control the weather.

Jenna Sims was our only pilot to fly. The event brief was at 0730 and Jenna took off around 0930. Her landings were magnificent. Just before her heat the tower changed runways to land to the east. All previous landings were done to the west on runway 27R. But the switch did not affect her accuracy. We won't know the scores until after the awards banquet but we were very happy with her scores.

With the final landing in Heat 35 of round 5 – SAFECON officially came to a close.

The next communique will list the standings of our pilots as announced at the awards ceremony.

Our plan is to depart early Sunday morning for Dallas then leave Monday at noon for El Paso. We will depart Tuesday morning for San Diego and be home at SDCC by mid day –weather permitting. It is a long, hard haul against the wind flying home. Please pray for our physical endurance, for mechanical integrity of our airplanes, and especially for benign weather enroute.

Thanks to all who have followed our journey along the way. Check previous posts for information on how you can follow our progress home on http://flightaware.com/live/. 

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Within a few hours as the visibility improved, it was decided to fly two rounds of the Message Drop event.

Aaron Penney and Frank Razo, who had done so well at Regionals took off first in heat 6. Their drops were close, but not as close as some others. We won't know the results until Saturday night. Kyle Mayhugh and Dylan Jones flew in round 2. Their drops were slightly closer. In the pictures accompanying this blog, you can see both "dropmasters" leaning out of the window with their message boxes and a 3-foot streamer attached so judges can see the box falling. The pilot flies the airplane along the wind line at the direction of the dropmaster, and the box is dropped up-wind of the target in order to drift back to the orange barrel. The drop is made at 200 feet above the runway at about 100 mph. Altitude is verified by the judges with a rangefinder and anyone lower than 200 feet is disqualified.

Following Message Drop, Clayton Hawley and Aaron Varela prepared for the single round of VFR Navigation that would be flown in these championships. Normally there would be 3 rounds. They reported their route went well but they were off by a gallon on their fuel estimate. That will hurt their score. We'll find out the results tomorrow. 

There is a significant build up to the awards ceremony. Some schools spent over $100,000 on their flight teams and results are critical to future budgets. So they spend a considerable amount of time and money on their programs. Consequently the awards are critically important for them and they take it very seriously.

Tomorrow morning we will complete the final round of Power-On Short Field Landings. Jenna Sims is scheduled to fly in the final round which will close out all flying events in these national championships. Competition will end with a business meeting for teams who will decide where next year's championships are to be held.

At this point we believe the best proposal will come from Embry-Riddle in Daytona Florida.

Your SDCC pilots will go back to the hotel and prepare for the awards banquet. I'll try to take a picture of them as they dress up really nice for this event.

Tomorrow: Final Day

Thursday forecast was for clearing skies and isolated showers, but before long the skies closed out the sun that had poked through briefly Wednesday afternoon. Then it opened again with liquid sunshine – the kind that makes everything, you know - wet. Even so, NIFA was able to complete 5 rounds of Power-Off Spot Landings. SDCC pilots did well with some close to the line and a few long in the box. We had a couple out of the box.

The "box" is a 300' long chalked box with the landing line located 100' from the front end. Judges line the runway and mark where each plane lands. They look for wheel movement and measure the distance from the landing line. Wheels are painted with white markers to make them easy to identify motion. If the plane bounces, they mark where both wheels touch down and stay on the ground. Penalties are given for irregular patterns, excessive floating, forcing the plane onto the ground etc. Pilots are disqualified for any technique considered unsafe by the judges.

The judges switched to Message drop at 6pm – determined to get as much flying as possible. But the weather would not cooperate. Visibility lowered, rain increased and flying was cancelled around 1830. The team was scheduled to meet with LeTourneau University and Liberty University for dinner and fellowship as they do each year. But fatigue was beginning to show on our young aviators and they decided to return to the hotel and go to bed early. Friday would be a long, busy day and the long trip from San Diego combined with a week of mostly sitting around watching the weather took its toll. One cannot discount the cumulative effects of fatigue – regardless of the source – in the course of these marathon competitions.
 

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You can track SDCC's flights home to San Diego starting Sunday morning (May 22) by going to http://flightaware.com/live/ and type in one of the following airplane registration numbers (N5291E for example) to track individual airplanes:

N79MR – Coach/Advisor Breslin – Cessna TR-182
N6706Y – Coach Belden – Beech Duchess BE-76
N5291E – Cessna 172
N40963 – Piper PA-28-161 Warrior
N8353T – Piper PA-28-236 Dakota

Current plan is to fly from KOSU to KGPM – Grand Prairie Texas- and RON (Remain Over Night) in Dallas.
Monday morning our pilots are scheduled to tour the American Airlines Flight Academy, meet Chief Pilot Captain John Hale, and fly Boeing 737 simulators.
We are also tentatively planning to visit the headquarters of the Allied Pilots Association – the pilot union for American Airlines before flying to El Paso Monday afternoon.

Today began overcast with a 500 foot ceiling but also with a hopeful forecast. Jenna Sims and John Crotts met at 0730 for once-over practice of their American Airlines Safety interview. They met with Captain David Andre, chief pilot for American's Saint Louis crew base for their presentation which covers all of SDCC's safety policies and practices.

Paul Martin and Clayton Hawley flew the "Ground Trainer" pattern in the simulator later in the morning. The pattern is a complicated series of timed turns, precision climbs, descents and maneuvers to test the instrument skills in an IFR simulator.

Finally at 1pm, the clouds did part or rise, or evaporate enough to launch the first of 35 heats of 4 aircraft. Team Captain Aaron Varela was in Heat 6 for Power-on landings. Power-on landings mean you can partially cut the power on the downwind – abeam the landing point and reduce the power as you approach landing so you are at idle power and full stall landing at touchdown. Throughout the pattern you can keep some power on, but as you reduce power for touchdown, you may not re-add power (if it looks like you'll land short for example) -without significant penalties. A description of all the competition events is available on our website (click here) .

Aaron was followed by Kyle Mayhugh [Heat 13] , Paul Martin [Heat 20] and Dylan Jones [Heat 26]. Jenna Sims was in Round 5, Heat 32 but the 5th round was postponed because they could not finish it before dark. We think most of our landings were "in the box" (See descriptions in link above). We watched hundreds of landings and there were plenty that were worse, and many that were better. We won't know the results until the awards banquet Saturday night.

You can listen to the KOSU Control Tower by clicking on this link and typing KOSU in the "By airport/ARTCC code" 

They don't say a whole lot but you can hear them clearing the NIFA Heats for takeoff and landing. It is streaming audio but we're told it works most of the time.

Today we start early with Power-off – SHORT FIELD LANDINGS at 0800. The weather is IFR this morning but is expected to improve throughout the day. After Short Field landings (35 heats) they may go into message drop or finish the Power-Off landings final round. We never know until the judges decide so our team is at the airport ready to pull the airplanes on and off the line. Pilots not in landing events are the ground crews moving planes back and forth or studying for their events.

Still to go are the Navigation Events planned for Friday morning. Navigation sends crews of two on a 100 mile round-robin flight over 5 checkpoints to test their ability to accurately plot the waypoints, accurately calculate headings, distances and fuel between waypoints, and come up with an overall time and fuel burn for the route. Estimates are compared with the actual fuel burn and actual time enroute. This event is won or lost by a tenth of a gallon or a few seconds on the time clock.

As I write this (0418 Pacific time) Clayton and Shon are in the simulator at the airport flying a "LOFT" (line-oriented flight training) scenario with judges testing them on multi-crew resource management in an instrument situation. They give them a "real-life" scenario and they have to make decisions as if they had a boss on board, an aircraft system problem or passenger medical emergency. They are tested on their decision-making and for how well they work together on normal as well as abnormal or emergency procedures.

Tonight our team will meet to get information on developing a professional aviation fraternity, Alpha Eta Rho at SDCC. We are considering that our chapter might be called "Iota Theta Sigma" - signifying the three greek letters on the cross when Christ was crucified: - [ IHS = ἸΘΣ = Ἰησοῦς, Θεος, Σωτήρ = Iēsous, Theos, Sōtēr = Jesus, God, Savior].

Following that meeting we will meet with the students from Liberty University and LeTourneau University for an hour of prayer and fellowship. We have developed this tradition over the years as it gives us a chance to compare our Christian walk in aviation with our colleagues at other Christian Universities. 

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Tuesday Weather Report: STILL and CLEAR – However we've had our California weather interpreters decipher Columbus-speak into the following translation to mean: "STILL raining and CLEAR up to your knees"! Yes the skies are silent again as the cloud bases are at 500 feet. The forecast remains bad through tomorrow. In our boredom we have pondered some poetry. With apologies to Edgar Allen Poe:

Once upon a SAFECON dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of cloud and wind and rain,
While I nodded, nearly boring, suddenly there came the rain a pouring,
As of some one gently dropping, dropping damp…
"Tis some visiter," I muttered, "dropping more rain — upon my ramp

Only this, and nothing more…"

Roll Call on opening day is a highlight of the competition and each team prepares their unique response. Responses range from a simple 'here" - to elaborate skits, songs and hoots.
Your SDCC Hawks read a mock "ATIS" - weather report that was well received given the current weather in Columbus:

San Diego ATIS: Information # Kilo
Time: Always
Wind: Light and Breezy and Always Easy
Visibility: Unrestricted
Sky Conditions: Clear below the sun
Temperature: 24ºC
Dew point: (team shouts) Doesn't matter!
Altimeter: 29.98
Active Runway in Use: Cha, Whichever you want, Bro…
Notices to Airmen: Ocean Beach, La Jolla Beach, Mission Beach, Coronado Beach, Point Loma Beach,(Need I go on?): Open!
Use Caution: Surfers, Sunbathers in vicinity
Severe Weather Outlook: Icing-(team shouts) None!
Turbulence-(team shouts) None!
Convection- (team shouts) None!
Remarks: Why did we leave San Diego again? Maybe someday we can have SAFECON San Diego
Advise on initial contact: You have information AWESOME

With no prospect for better weather today, flying on Tuesday has been cancelled.
The team goes back to the hotel to study for the Navigation and ground simulator events. Tomorrow is scheduled for Power-Off Spot Landings.

 

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Monday starts with the contestant's briefing where each team has an opportunity to introduce themselves. Our team has been working on their opening statement which will be specifically about the horrible OHIO Weather – and how we could all be flying – if the competition were held in California!

Read the article from Columbus local news...
College-age pilots prove skills, find thrills at competition
By MARK DUBOVEC
Published: Sunday, May 15, 2011 8:06 AM EDT
 

Sunday morning looked dreadful from the start. Rain squalls had rolled across the Ohio Valley plains all through the night but hope springs eternal in the minds of the young aviators hoping to get some landing practice in. After flying 16 flight hours across America to Ohio – our cross-country skills are excellent but that doesn't help with the precision accuracy required for spot landings. Our planes were towed into the hot-box for the first 4 heats of practice starting at noon.

But the clouds persisted and the rain began and all through the afternoon the ceiling hung at just below minimums required to fly. So we sat. Then we gave up and went to the hotel to study and practice. The day ended with the team preparing for the ground events Monday which include Computer Accuracy (E6B), Simulated Comprehensive Air Navigation (SCAN) and Aircraft Identification (ACID).

DAY 3 - National Championships at Ohio State University

Saturday dawned dark, overcast and rainy. We filed our flight plans and the first airplane was airborne on an IFR clearance to KOSU airport at 0830. The 320 mile trip was estimated to take about 3 hours. The forecast was for storms in the afternoon so the best flying weather was early in the day. Most of the flight to OSU was in the clouds with some big storms near Cincinnati and just south of Columbus.  

Some of our planes diverted around the storms but the ride was smooth and not as bad as we expected. Some were able to land without flying an instrument approach, others made the decision to follow the instrument arrival procedure.

By 1pm all planes were tied down. We signed up for practices on Sunday and Monday but we all agreed we were too tired to make practice landings today so we arranged for dinner and went to the hotels. Team Captain Aaron Varela, along with Clayton Hawley and Shon Northcutt arrived on the airlines tonight so our team is in place for practice tomorrow.

A word here about our pilots. Yes – our goal is to compete and score high in the competition, but the experience our pilots are getting flying in this spring midwest weather is undeniably valuable training. I can tell you as their coach and advisor, that I am extremely proud of the way they planned and flew each of their flights. You cannot imagine the difficulty of putting to practice – all those things learned about cross-country flying and instrument training - until you start dealing with them all at once in the real world of weather and air traffic control.   

     

           

   

On Friday morning we awoke to 30 knot winds and overcast skies. The plan was to fly 412 miles from Shawnee OK to Metropolis IL. The stay in Metropolis allowed the team to spend the night in a home owned by Flight Team Coach Mat Belden – an SDCC graduate and former team captain. The forecast called for clouds along the route and thunderstorms along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers near Paducah Kentucky – which is exactly where we were going. It started out smooth and clear above the clouds at 11,000 feet but several hours in to the flight it was clear the forecast was bearing out. The Cessna with Paul Martin and John Crotts planned a fuel stop in Branson MO. The other 4 planes went non-stop to Metropolis, planning to fly an instrument approach into Paducah KY to get below the clouds.

Metropolis had made the national news in recent weeks for flooding. The area had received over 350% of its normal rainfall. Luckily – and in direct answer to prayer that the clouds be parted – all but one of the planes were able to fly around the leading storms to the north by Cape Girardeau MO, and circle back to land at Metropolis in clear weather. N5291E was delayed 30 minutes due to the fuel stop and we watched them arrive just ahead of a giant storm dropping horizontal rain amidst claps of thunder and streaks of lightning.

But we got the planes secured against the wind and within an hour we were all safe and dry in Mr. Belden's home. The team enjoyed Pizza, compliments of the Belden's and concluded the evening with a prayer of thanksgiving and debrief of the day's flying. We then made our plans for Saturday's concluding leg to OSU and got everyone to bed early.

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SDCC Competes in National Championships at Ohio State University

The SDCC Flight Team left San Diego for Ohio State just after the morning fog burned off Thursday May 12. Five planes began the trip with a prayer of thanksgiving and praise. Our prayer included a plea for a safe, smooth flight. Several planes stopped for fuel in Phoenix and everyone met just west of El Paso for another fuel stop. The next leg crossed West Texas to Plainview, just north of Lubbock and the final leg put everyone safely on the ground in Shawnee Oklahoma, just east of Oklahoma City at 10pm. 

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Click here and follow the Flight Team Blog for daily updates!  

The San Diego Christian College Flight Team is preparing to fly to the national college flying championships at Ohio State University. Although SDCC is one of the smallest schools in the national competition, we are proud to participate with the top 30 aviation universities in the country. The Team consists of 11 aviation technology majors at SDCC who have practiced and trained and competed regionally against teams from Embry Riddle, San Jose State , Cypress College, Mt San Antonio College and the US Air Force Academy. Only the top teams in each region receive bids to the national championships.

We will be posting daily blogs of the competition along with pictures of the 2000 mile trip to Columbus Ohio. We’re very excited about the trip which gives our young aviators invaluable real-time experience flying cross-country, and the opportunity to compete against the best collegiate pilots in the country.

Departure time is tentatively scheduled for Thursday May 12 weather permitting. Follow along as the team wings its way east. With Flight Aware http://flightaware.com/ you can track the planes as they make their way towards KOSU.”    See more information here!  And check out:  SAFECON 2011  

SAFECON 

For the third year in a row, the SDCC Flight Team will be going to the National Intercollegiate Flying Association's SAFECON National Championships at Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio, May 16—21. SDCC will fly 5 airplanes 2000 miles to compete against the top collegiate aviators from 30 schools across the country.

The Flight Team worked hard to raise the funds for their trip to the national championships. But the work doesn’t stop there – now as preparations get underway, team members are preparing the aircraft, doing the flight planning and flight training for competition.

Flight Team competition sharpens the skills of SDCC pilots against the best collegiate aviators in the country. It is an honor and a privilege to be invited to the national championships. Flight Team spokeswoman Jenna Sims, winner of the Women Pilot's Safety Award at the Region II championships said, "We are thrilled to be invited, but now the hard work of raising the funds, planning for logistics and practicing for competition begins. This is a great opportunity for SDCC!" 
 SAFECON 2011   - Follow the Flight Team here! 

 

SDCC Flight Team SAFECON 2011 Regional Championships RESULTS 

SAFECON Awards Banquet at Mt San Antonio College.

 

 

Flight Team 2011 SAFECON - Note Jenna holding her Women Safety Pilot trophy and John holding the Team Safety Trophy.

 

 

Dylan Jones & Kyle Mayhugh 6th NAV.

 

 

Kyle Mayhugh - 9th Power Off Landings.

 

 

Clayton Hawley & Aaron Varela 2nd NAV.

 

 

John Crott & Jenna Sims 5th NAV.

 

 

Jenna Sims Top Women Pilot Safety Award.

 

 

Jackson Judge & Shon Northcutt 1st Message Drop.

 

 

John Crotts & Sean Conlan First Place Safety Award.

 

 

Aaron Penney and Frank Razo 6th Message Drop.
 

 

 

Kyle Mayhugh & Chad Coyle 10th Message Drop.

 

 

Clayton Hawley 8th Overall.

 

 

 

Kyle Mayhugh worked hard to earn his 5 awards!

 

 

Team Captain Aaron Varela 8th Aircraft Recognition - 2nd in Navigation.

 

 

Shon Northcutt & Clayton Hawley 3rd Crew Resource Management.

 

 

Paul Martin 3rd IFR Precision Flight and 7th in Computer Accuracy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SDCC Flight Team Friday SAFECON 2011 Regional Championships

That is all for today. We're sharing part of our day with you in pictures below...

Brackett Control Tower

Waking up sleepy airplanes - red and white plane is SDCC.

Flight line and snow in the San Gabriel mountains north of KPOC.

Captain Varela and Clayton Hawley complete NAV with Coach Mathew Belden welcoming them back.

Clayton refuels 91E. Aaron Varela (copilot for NAV) observes. Pilots refuel planes to find out how much fuel was used in NAV route.

Kyle Mayhugh and Dylan Jones refuel after NAV. Flights are graded on how close their actual fuel use was to planned fuel use.

 SDCC Flight Team Tuesday and Wednesday SAFECON 2011 Regional Championships

Day 10 

Sunday - Today the team flew to Metropolis to rest and relax at Mathew Belden’s home. They spent the day riding Quads and fighting off chiggers. I was able to take Frank and Lyn Cunning and their daughter, from the First Baptist Church of North Terre Haute, for a short flight before flying to Metropolis. We tried to think of a way to thank them for their generosity and as it turned out, the one thing we could offer was the most treasured thing of all – a ride in an airplane! Lyn was thrilled –it was her first time - and we were pleased we could do something in return for all they did for our team this week. 

Friday – Contestants were advised the weather was going to delay the message drop event which is the most exciting and fun event of the competition. We met at the hangar at 10am but thunderstorms surrounded the field. Still, there was a lull where the judges felt we could complete one round - about 90 flights. We pushed the planes into position. But before we could launch, the judges wisely changed their minds and delayed due to cells moving in our direction faster than anticipated. You could feel the booms in the distance and see the lightning working it’s way towards the airport with intermittent ground strikes illuminating the darkening sky.

We returned the airplanes to the line and tied them down tight. One line of t-storms passed by, then another. A new, more threatening line formed just west of Terre Haute. It contained severe thunderstorm warnings and a TORNADO warning.  We were lucky enough to be able to hangar our SDCC planes in case of hail – but thankfully it was unnecessary. But the rain poured out of the sky unlike anything we see in SoCal.

As quickly as they come, they move away. Sun appeared at 5pm and we launched one round of message drop planes. If we get no further flying in Saturday, we can call the competition complete. Kyle Mayhugh and Jenna Sims flew in the first heat. Although they had a good drop for headwind, they missed on the crosswind by 200 feet. Closest to the target and probable winner was a 5-foot drop by one school. Message drop is flown at 200 feet and 100mph over the targets. Pilot and dropmaster must figure out the wind drift and drop their box upwind, on line with the wind and allow the drift to take it back on target. Since you can’t see the wind, it is particularly difficult if you are in the first heat because you have no time to discuss results from other teams and make adjustments.

We ended the day somewhat wet and a little discouraged, but pleased that Jenna was able to fly – since, as a “Penguin” - she is not a rated pilot yet and is only eligible to fly as a dropmaster in the message drop event.

The team then headed off to Rose-Hulman college for showers. We met Mathew Belden’s father Paul at Ichiban Japanese restaurant for dinner. Mr. Belden generously treated the team to an excellent hibachi-style dinner. To relax, they then went to the Robin Hood movie with the team from San Jose State University.

Thursday evening our team met with members of LeTourneau University and Liberty University for prayer and fellowship. I attended the President’s Reception but joined the prayer session in progress. It was rejuvenating to see all the competitors sharing bible verses, having fun, telling jokes and just enjoying the fellowship. It has now become a tradition to get together with our Christian colleagues during the week of competition.

Saturday is also forecast to be overcast and rainy, but with ceilings high enough to attempt more message drop rounds. Teams will meet at 9am and try for 2 more rounds before the cut-off at noon. The afternoon will include business meetings and scoring by the judges for the awards banquet Saturday night at Indiana State University.

Our plan is to leave Sunday for Metropolis Illinois, do our planning for flying back West, and depart early Monday for San Diego. If all goes well, we should be home late Tuesday. Please pray for mechanical integrity for the airplanes, for good weather, light winds and a safe flight. 

 

Thursday. Day started sunny and clear – but that changed quickly and Terre Haute now stands on the edge of a huge rain front due to hit this afternoon. Meanwhile Navigation events launched at 7am after the 0600 brief. Mat Belden and Titus Dinkins started off but were disqualified after the planning phase due to a mis-read longitude number put the waypoint out of limits. Kyle Loenhorst and Dylan Jones finished but said their time was skewed by 40 knot tailwinds. Their time was not bad however as they were able to adjust their groundspeed. Their fuel use was within a half gallon of predicted which is very competitive. At this time Clayton Hawley and Aaron Varela are airborne hoping to finish before the rain hits.

Wednesday evening we enjoyed a meal with the First Baptist North church where the team is lodging. SDCC presented a card from President Paul Ague, signed by all the team members, to Pastor Mobey and Lyn Cunning who managed all the volunteers. Tonight the team will meet with the pilots from LeTourneau University and Liberty University for prayer and fellowship. We ask that you pray for our return trip as the weather between Indiana and California is forecast to be unstable over the next week.

The day was complete at 5pm. The team took showers at the Rose-Hulman college gym and were treated by members of the First Baptist church to an excellent BBQ dinner at Rick’s Smokehouse.

Wednesday – With weather a “moving target” we changed the schedule to get the short-field (powered) spot landings in before more predicted rain. Titus was in the first heat, followed by Mat, Kyle, Kyle and David. Most of our landings today were competitive. We won’t know the score until the computer program runs on Saturday so we can’t know for sure how we did or how we compare to our colleagues.

Aaron Varela and Titus Dinkins presented our safety presentation for the American Airlines Safety Award. Both did exceedingly well. Paul Martin was our entry in the “IFR” event – flying a simulator through a pre-programmed instrument (IFR) scenario. Paul believes he did well in that competition. Mat Belden and David Garcia competed in the “CRM” or Crew Resource Management event which tests how well pilots can “crew” a multi-piloted aircraft through a scenario developed to challenge crews.

Tomorrow (Thursday) will be an early start (0600) - due to threatening weather forecast for later in the afternoon. They are planning to finish either the Navigation event or the Message Drop – the final two flying events in the competition. There are several other event planned for Friday.

After “work” this afternoon, Pastor Mark Tobey and his congregation hosted the team at the church with a meal and an opportunity to fellowship and introduce our team. We shared a slide show of pictures we’ve taken so far – some of which are shared on the website here. The church members have been so incredibly gracious to your SDCC Flight Team. We cannot thank them enough for the accommodations, the vehicle, the meals and the opportunity to share our experience with them.

Day 5

Monday marked the beginning of competition. Cloudy, rainy, windy – didn’t matter, it was all inside today. After the opening ceremonies, David Garcia, Mat Belden, Titus Dinkins, Aaron Varela and Paul Martin competed in the aviation Computer Accuracy event. Using an “E6B” computer, pilots solved navigation problems in a one hour written exam. Later Kyle Loenhorst, Aaron Varela, Kyle Mayhugh, Clayton Hawley and Titus Dinkins competed in the Aircraft Identification event where a series of various aircraft from around the world are displayed for 3 seconds while students write down the type of aircraft, manufacturer, and country of origin. The final event was “SCAN” - which is a comprehensive navigation exam where navigation problems are solved under a time constraint. SCAN team was led by team captain  David Garcia, Mathew Belden, Kyle Loenhorst, Titus Dinkins and Clayton Hawley. SCAN is recognized as the most difficult exam of the competition.

Today is coach and former team captain Mat Belden’s birthday so it has become a tradition to take Mathew out for sushi dinner on the Monday of SAFECON competition. This is Mathew’s final year to compete and we wish him well. He has been such a great asset to our team over the past couple years. 

We refueled the planes in the rain and were able to get a couple practice flights in for spot landings before they shut flying down at 6pm.

We were met by our hosts from the First Baptist Church of North Terre Haute, courtesy of Frank and Lynn Cunning and Pastor Mark Tobey:

http://www.firstbaptistnorth.com/home

First Baptist offered to host SDCC’s Flight Team. Little did we know how generous and gracious that offer was. When the team arrived at the church, they had stocked the kitchen and refrigerator, provided mattresses and rooms to sleep in and loaned us a large van to transport pilots and gear back and forth all week. On their website they sought volunteers to cook meals, and provide for us in any way we needed. We are so grateful to the First Baptist church for all they have done.

Day 2

Friday dawned windy, cloudy, and rainy. The team took off for Kansas City to avoid thunderstorms though it was several hundred miles out of our way to the north. Refueled and refreshed with lunch, we flew north across the storm path in the clear and landed in Metropolis Illinois. Yes, Metropolis is the home of Superman and the team could not resist having their picture taken at the Superman statue downtown – just before dinner and a good night’s sleep at the home of Coach Mathew Belden’s father, Paul.