Omaha Flying Mavs Dominate Regional Flight Competition

Omaha – The University of Nebraska at Omaha Flight Team, The Flying Mavs, took home first place in the Region 6 National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) competition. Omaha was the host school for this year’s event that ran the week of October 16, 2017.

Led by Co-captain Tate Beller, the team earned 669 points to claim the SAFECON Championship. Beller won the Regional Top Pilot award with 126 points, six more than fellow co-captain Philip Wier. Beller said, “This week has been an incredible experience for everyone involved with the Flying Mavs. The first day of the competition we came out with a bang, placing several individuals very highly in the ground events. It is a very exciting time to be a Maverick and it can only get better from here.” The Mavs swept first place in all three team awards. In addition to the SAFECON Championship, they won the Flight Events and Ground Events awards.

"This is a tremendous win for our team, they put a lot of hard work and effort into earning this," said Scott Vlasek, faculty advisor for the team. "I am so happy for all of them, it truly was a team effort lead by our captains. It all came together at the right time and the team decisively won the competition."

The Flying Mavs won by 243 points over the second place team from Oklahoma State University. Southeastern Oklahoma State University came in third place rounding out the three automatic qualifiers to nationals. Junior Adam Recker added, “I am very proud of the team as a whole. I've never seen such commitment from new members as well as the leadership from returning members, and their hard work paid off. We dominated the competition.” Other schools in the competition included Kansas State University Polytechnic, University of Central Missouri, Saint Louis University Parks College, and the University of Oklahoma.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the young men and women who represented UNO and the Aviation Institute so well this past week. In addition to an exceptional performance in the competition, these students are setting great examples in the classroom and in the community,” said Scott Tarry, director of the UNO Aviation Institute.

Some of the highlights include:

• The Mavs took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the Navigation Event, Computer Accuracy Event, and the Aircraft Preflight Inspection.
• In the Short Field Landing Event the Mavs took 1st, 2nd, 6th, 16th and 17th place.
• 2 team members place in the top ten in Aircraft Recognition Event.
• All 3 team members in the Ground Trainer Event placed in the top 5.
• 4 out of 5 competitors in the Power-Off Landing Event were in the top 10.
• 2 members placed in the top 10 in the Simulated Comprehensive Aircraft Navigation Event.

The Mavs will make their ninth consecutive appearance at the national SAFECON competition which will take place at Indiana State University beginning April 30, 2018.

According to Ryan Guthridge, coach of the Flying Mavs, "This is one of those rare teams that came together at just the right time to perform at their peak. We have a good group of new members and veterans that all contributed to the team's record setting win. I couldn't be more excited about the future of the Omaha Flying Mavericks!"

See a full list of results from the SAFECON competition.