Interviews for the Men’s and Women’s Achievement Awards will be conducted on an appointment basis during SAFECON.  Signups for interview slots will be available when all the electronic signup calendars are turned on, approximately one week prior to SAFECON.  Please see below for general information and a link to access the application and instructions

• Only 1 male and 1 female per school are eligible to apply for the achievement awards.
• Applications must be submitted no later than Saturday, May 16 at 6:00 PM CDT to be eligible to interview.
• Qualifications to apply are:
  • Must hold at least a private pilot certificate.
  • May not be a previous first place winner of the award.
  • Must be a full-time student in good standing.
  • Need not be from a school competing in the National SAFECON.
  • Letter of recommendation from an instructor or member of the faculty which speaks to academic accomplishments, aviation involvement, and community service.  The letter may be attached to the application.
  • Personal resume, attached to the application.
  • Interviews will be scheduled by the coach/advisor.  It is the responsibility of the coach/advisor to ensure the applicant is advised of their appointment.  Cell phone numbers must be listed for each coach and applicant in case of last minute schedule changes.
  • Interviews will be conducted Tuesday through Friday according to the schedule posted on the SAFECON master calendar.  Saturday may be used only for make ups after consultation with the event judges and the Chief Judge.
  • If additional appointments are needed on Saturday due to weather, these will be made available on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the Chief Judge.

Once you have read the above qualifications, please click the button below to access the application form for the Achievement Awards.

Scoring metrics are coming soon!

Anyone in aviation has had a flight instructor at some time or another. It is the baseline for all aviation activities. In this competition is assumed that The Best of the Best from your school will attend. Therefore, while it is an individual event and not scored toward the overall competition, it nevertheless reflects upon the excellence of your school.

To ensure proper preparation for this event, the topic and scoring metrics will soon be posted below for your use. Speech as well as content criteria will be included.

It is assumed that the applicant will be familiar with the Fundamentals of Instruction and the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook from the FAA. Additional presentation resources such as Teach Like You Fly and Lesson Plans for Teach Like You Fly by Arlynn McMahon are encouraged.

The session will be one hour long and the applicant is expected to teach per the ACS topic cited. If time allows two questions will be asked regarding teaching technique or learning theory. The ballot criteria is scored with one or two possible checks indicating done or excellently done. No check is given if the criteria is not performed.

• Scenario:

   

            You are an instructor of a student pilot who is working towards their private pilot certificate.  The student has about 20 hours and has just done their first two solo flights.  This flight will be to the local practice area to practice their maneuvers.  The weather is marginal for the student pilot, but legal.  The student has some reservations and is not sure what they think about the flight.  AH-HA! You think, what a good time to have a discussion about Risk Management, Aeronautical Decision Making and the IMSAFE checklist as it pertains to this flight.  Feel free to use any other areas of discussion that you feel pertain to this flight.

Each NIFA member school may nominate their coach for the Coach of the Year Award.  Teams need not be present at SAFECON to nominate their coach.  Please download the scoring criteria for the Coach of the Year award and review those guidelines before submitting your nomination.

The Collegiate Aviation Progress Award is awarded to the most improved school at SAFECON.  Please click here to view the scoring criteria for this award.

Please click here to view the Loening Trophy judging criteria

Each team may nominate one member as their “Outstanding Team Member.”  You will only be able to enter one name from your team, so do not submit your team’s name until you have made your final decision.

This award is presented to the team at SAFECON who has demonstrated the highest levels of good sportsmanship.  Each team present at SAFECON may cast one vote for another team.  Please submit your nomination by clicking the button below.