The Mt. San Antonio College Flying Team was named the top community college team and took third place overall at the regional 2013 Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON), a competition for university and community college flying teams hosted this year by San Jose State University on Jan. 17-20.
Seventy pilots from six colleges and universities participated in the annual airmeet.
In addition to capturing the Top Two-Year College trophy for the 22nd year in a row, the Mt. SAC squad also won the Top Safety Award for the fifth time in the past 10 years. As a team, Mt. SAC placed third behind first-place Embry Riddle University and second-place San Diego Christian College, both four-year colleges.
Individually, Mt. SAC students won 22 awards. Mt. SAC’s Josh Spolar (West Covina) won first place in the instrument flight competition. Taylor Ewing (West Covina) took second place in the top pilot voting, and Nelson Contreras (Montebello) took third place in the message drop event.
Other teams at the regional airmeet were the U. S. Air Force Academy, San Jose State University, and Cypress College.
The national SAFECON airmeet will be hosted by Ohio State University on May 6-11.
Over the years, the Mt. SAC Flying Team has consistently earned top honors as one of the best collegiate flying teams in the country. The team has won the Top Community College trophy at the regional competition every year since 1991. Mt. SAC also won the Top U. S. Community College award at the national airmeet in 1984, 1985, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2007.
--Mt. San Antonio College
