Aviation students volunteer at competition

Wheels up!

The Aviation program’s home base at LaGrange Callaway Airport served as the battleground for a regional competition, where LC students served a direct role as volunteer judges for the three-day event held Feb. 28-March 3.

The National Intercollegiate Flight Association’s Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference, known as the ‘March Madness of Aviation,’ brought Region IX teams from Auburn University, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Florida Institute of Technology, Jacksonville University and Polk State College to compete in a series of events for a bid to the national championship that will take place in May in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Freshman Jackson Ball was among the judges for the message drop event, which has been called a crowd favorite. It involves hitting a target with a container dropped from an aircraft 200 feet above the ground.

“The way it was set up was seamless, and seeing the designs the different schools came up with for their ‘message container’ was interesting,” he said. “Then watching the schools use trial and error to get closer to the target with each heat also intrigued me.”

Sophomore Isabel Rocker, who is eager to potentially compete for LC at a future event, said she used the opportunity while serving as observer and judge to learn from experienced people in the field.

“I gained a lot of knowledge from other judges (who had competed before) as well as team coaches,” she said. “I look forward to the day when LC begins a flight team, which will help us as pilots refine our skills in a fun setting and benefit us later in our careers.”

Prior to the competition, a group of LC Aviation students took a trip to the Delta Operations Center in Atlanta, where they toured the facility and used its state-of-the-art flight simulator.

“It was an excellent opportunity for our students,” said Aviation Advisor Dr. Bill McCoy. “In addition to seeing how the pilots work, our students found out about a wide variety of positions that require different skill sets—working in the operations center and elsewhere at the company.”