Rocky Mountain College’s aviation program is hosting some 150 people in a flying excellence competition put on by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association at the Billings’ airport Oct. 12-15. The SAFECON—or Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference --tests college aviation programs.
Samantha Morris, Rocky’s flight team coach for more than a decade, has spent a lot of time organizing this big event.
“Logistically just working with the city of Billings and the Billings airport trying to get everything set up to be able to house space for 150 contestant to hang out at the hanger,” explained Morris. “ Edwards Jet Center was so gracious to us they provided us a lot of space a lot of ramp space us to be able to work in and out of. It’s been a community effort to be sure. “
Morris’ students have been busy, like team captain Senior Hunter Seal Salao.
“I’ve been preparing. I’ve been helping Sam as needed. I’ve joined a couple of meetings to kind of understand what she has to go through to get everything set up for the airport and the hanger and everything. I’m also the team leader for a couple of the ground events so I set up lessons outside of this class time. I meet with my ground team on Thursdays, later in the afternoon and run lesson plans to teach them how to do better at the events,” said Seal Salao.
SAFECON is competition, finding the “best of the best. “For RMC Senior Aidan Noon, it’s also learning about other aviation programs.
“We get to interact with a bunch of people that we don’t normally interact with. A lot of other schools that do things differently. They have a lot of different experiences than we do here in Billings. And so I really like to talk to the other schools coming to compete with us and get to know them,” Noon said.
The National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s SAFECO event is through Thurs., Oct 15.
