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After the May 2020 National Intercollegiate Flying\nAssociation (NIFA) competition was canceled and the 2021 version whittled to a\nvirtual format with ground events only due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SIU again\nshowed its national prominence this past weekend by finishing third in the\nnation. The result marks the 10th straight year that the nine-time national\nchampions have finished third or higher in the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am so immensely proud of this group for their\naccomplishment during these times,\u201d said Flying Salukis Coach Nathan J.\nLincoln, a senior lecturer in aviation management and flight. \u201cI truly believe\nthe continued success of our flight team is because of the amazing flight\nstudents and instructors. We have a wonderful program here at SIU, and it\u2019s a\ngreat feeling to showcase it at our national competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott won the title.\nThe University of North Dakota was second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Results are available at the NIFA website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Preparation was more difficult this year <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After the May 2020 national event was canceled, SIU\nqualified this spring via a participation regional in March. Yet there were\nchallenges getting back into a practice and competition routine, Lincoln said.\nKnocking off the \u201crust\u201d of returning members who had not competed since fall\n2019, the addition of several new team members, and knowing it was a virtual\ncompetition with just ground events made preparing more difficult than normal,\nhe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven with these obstacles the team performed wonderfully,\u201d\nLincoln said. \u201cI was so proud of each one of them for their continued success\nin our national competitions. It is quite an amazing feat to be able to stay in\nthe top three nationally for 10 years now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flying Salukis place three in top nine<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Three seniors who earned their degrees this month or who\nwill complete their education this summer led the effort. Gavin Voris, an\naviation management graduate from Park Ridge, was fifth overall with 34 points.\nTeam captain Andrew D. Finer, aviation technology, from Des Peres, Missouri,\nwas sixth with 33 points and Lukas A. Miller, aviation management graduate,\nfrom Macon, Illinois, tied for ninth with 27 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGetting that opportunity to compete before I left really\nmeant a lot,\u201d said Finer, who will graduate this summer. \u201cIt was weird doing\neverything online, but at the end of the day, I’m very happy we got to do it at\nall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only competing in ground events was a \u201cbummer,\u201d Finer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe’re the SIU Flight Team after all and not being able to\nfly felt wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ground events are still important of course, but\nit was definitely an obstacle for us being that we are a team that typically\nsucceeds more in the flying events than the ground events.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In spite of the \u201cmassive asterisk\u201d Finer said the team\u2019s\nability to group together and finish again in the top three in the nation is\n\u201csomething that makes me incredibly proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Voris is working on his flight instructor certificate and\nsaid the hardest parts of the season were the last-minute changes surrounding\nthe competition due to the modified format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe team did a great job of being flexible in order to\novercome this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even without the flight events, Voris said it \u201cmeant a lot\ncompeting this year since there were no Nationals last year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have too much trouble focusing on the ground\nevents because it allowed me to make sure I was really doing my best,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Miller, who also graduated in May, the competition was\nanother opportunity to represent the school, which \u201cwas really something\nspecial.\u201d He explained that ground events have always been one his favorite\nparts of flight team competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Changes to the aircraft preflight inspection event to make\nit a virtual rather than a hands-on event did present challenges, which meant\ncompetitors had to \u201ccreate a way to study for something that had never been\ndone before,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt really was a group effort for trying to find any angle\nthe judges could be looking at with the aircraft and to make sure everyone was\non the same page,\u201d he said. \u201cI really am overcome with pride for the team that\nI got to work with this year for their perseverance and dedication to the team\nand constantly improving themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Flying Salukis who scored points were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Flying Salukis, with hometowns, year in school and\nmajors are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n ILLINOIS<\/p>\n\n\n\n OHIO<\/p>\n\n\n\n MINNESOTA<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking to the fall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Plans now are for the Flying Salukis to hold tryouts early\nin the fall semester and then prepare for the in-person Region VIII competition\nat Indiana State University in October, Lincoln said. Morris and Kapp will be\nco-captains for the 2021-2022 season. Lincoln also credited the aviation\ndepartment\u2019s continued support and the work of his coaching staff, Mike\nLefevre, Rob Kay and Andy Roadcap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWithout them we would never have the success that we have\nhad in recent years,\u201d he said. \u201cThey each bring valuable assets to the team and\nare a perfect group of coaches to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Pete Rosenbery Even when grounded, the Southern Illinois University Carbondale\u2019s Flying Salukis find ways to reach new heights. After the May 2020 National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) competition was canceled and the 2021 version whittled to a virtual format with ground events only due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SIU again showed its national prominence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-illinois"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18547,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18545\/revisions\/18547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}