Welcome to the (semi-)live blog the 2014 National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Region VII SAFECON (flight competition)! Stay tuned for event news, updates & results!

The (semi-)live blog is in progress, as you scroll down you can follow the progress of the event. The top starts with the kick off of the event and the most recent content will always be found at the bottom… (Not ideal, but for the mobile aspect of posting content from the landing line we are going with it!)

10/22/14 – The (semi-)live blog begins…NOW!

10/22/14 10:45pm – Teams have been notified of the blog via email & Twitter! From here you can expect regular posts! Stay tuned, tomorrow we will unveil the Preflight Inspection Event aircraft!

10/23/14 3:00pm – We’re setting up!

10/23/14 4:30pm – Landing event lines are being applied on Runway 24.

10/23/14 5:00pm – Runway stripes are completed on Runway 24, Runway 33 lines will be put down tomorrow morning!

10/23/14 6:00pm The preflight event aircraft, a 1977 Cessna 152 has been moved to a secluded hangar and the ‘bugging’ will commence shortly!

10/23/14 8:45pm It’s easy to locate the judges for our event this weekend, they’ll be sporting some new hats…

10/24/14 9:30am The stripes on Runway 24 held up much better than expected with the rain last night. This morning, in some ‘light’ rain showers, we’re out putting the stripes down on Runway 33!

10/24/14 10:30am Farmingdale is practicing landings, US Military Academy is studying for the written events and Delaware State just arrived!

More airplanes are arriving and the teams colors are on display!

10/24/14 12:00pm We have temporarily delayed the briefing. Instructions to follow in the hangar.

10/24/14 12:45pm We will run the Aircraft Recognition event for Bridgewater, Delaware, Dowling & Farmingdale at 1:15 in room 207. Schenectady, US Military Academy and RPI will be run later, exact time is TBD.

10/24/14 1:30pm The Aircraft Recognition event for BSU, DSU, DC & FSC is under way!

10/24/14 1:35pm Sean Breen (Regional Council Rep) is heading to the hangar to distribute ID badges for competitors. US Military Academy should expect to begin Ground Trainer Event practice soon; we are getting the facility opened & set up, stay tuned!

10/24/14 2:00pm USMA Ground Trainer practice to commence at 2:15pm… Or 1415 in military time!

10/24/14 2:30pm At 2:45pm in Room 207 BSU, DSU, FSC & USMA will have their SCAN test event. Other schools SCAN test will be scheduled later today.

10/24/14 3:45pm SCHEDULE UPDATE for ground events today, with a couple Ground Trainer practice sessions tomorrow:

1600-1700 BSU, DSU, DC, FSC – Computer Accuracy Event in Room 207; RPI, SCCC, USMA – Aircraft Recognition Event in Room 208

1700-1900 BBQ Dinner & General Contestant Briefing in the hangar

1900-2000 DC, RPI, SCCC – SCAN Event in Room 207

1900-1930 USMA – Ground Trainer Practice

1930-2000 DSU – Ground Trainer Practice

2000-2100 RPI, SCCC, USMA – Computer Accuracy Event in Room 207

2000-2030 FSC – Ground Trainer Practice

2030-2100 BSU – Ground Trainer Practice

Note – RPI & SCCC will complete their Ground Trainer practice following the landing events on Saturday

Picture from our General Contestant Briefing…

10/24/14 9:15pm The evening edition of the E6B Computer Accuracy Event coming to a finish!

10/25/14 6:00am The dew has set in and the judges are ready to roll!

10/25/14 6:30am Sunrise and breakfast!

NIFA Judge vehicles lined up & ready to go!

Larry giving his morning briefing!

10/25/14 8:30am the lines are down, distance markers & wind socks are out and the judges are excited and in place!

 

8:50am Heat 1 running up, here we go!

10/25/14 1:15pm The plan is to brief for the Short Field Landings at 2:15 in the hangar, event to follow immediately after…

From earlier today, the very first approach & landing…

 

…and then Larry’s car wouldn’t start when we wrapped up the landing competition, took about 16 judges to get it running!

Great to see spectators and competitors watching the action today!

 

 

10/26/14 9:00am with Preflight, Navigation & Ground Trainer on tap today, there are a lot of points to be earned. Today’s events go a long way to deciding who represents Region VII at Nationals in the spring!

10/26/14 10:30am Due to high winds the NAV flights are being delayed but stay tuned for more info… Ground trainer is also delayed due to a mechanical issue. Preflight is moving right along ahead/on schedule!

10/26/14 11:45am NAV has been called for the day, ground trainer is behind but we’re making it work and preflight is pushing ahead on schedule!

10/26/14 6:30pm Remember the briefing is at 7am tomorrow in the hangar… The plan is to send one NAV team from each school. We will then immediately roll into the Message Drop event. The plan is to roll through the day to the 5pm banquet. Also, don’t forget that Team Sportsmanship Award nominations are due ASAP to Matt at MTElia1B9@gmail.com. Here are a couple of pictures from the preflight event… We couldn’t post them during the event so we wouldn’t give anything away to the teams that hadn’t competed in the Preflight Event earlier in the day!

Larry provided a couple of shots from the ground trainer event today too…

10/27/14 7:05am Briefing delayed for today until 730am in the hangar as we are still waiting on information to complete the ‘heat sheets’…

Larry & Sean both opened themselves up to some funny pictures earlier…

Larry standing on a box looking tall and Sean holding up a fence…

10/26/14 11:05am Team should be ready to start engines for the first heat of Message Drop at 11:20!

The message drop target #1!

…in the barrel?!?!

The last plane from the last event lands & then it shuts down, and it’s time for the banquet at 5:30pm at the main campus.

Check out some footage from Joel, one of our judges for this weekend…

http://youtu.be/3nVFaHYQCxA

Half of the message stop containers…

Congratulations to our regional leaders and the team that will represent Region VII at Nationals!

1. Farmingdale State College
2. United States Military Academy – West Point
3. Dowling College

Also, I’d like to personally congratulate Bridgewater State University for winning the first ever ReviewBeforeFlight.com NIFA Region VII Team Sportsmanship Award which was based on judges’ input as well as competitor teams’ nominations!

Full event results can be found on the NIFA website HERE!