WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Texas State Technical College's Aviation Team, and six other schools in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, are coming together to compete and make connections to help students build their future careers.
The schools competing include LeTourneau University, Louisiana Tech University, Oklahoma State University, Stephen F. Austin University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and the University of Oklahoma.
"It's kind of a competition between schools," said freshman Commercial Aviation student, John Bush.
"We've got a couple of Oklahoma schools, a couple of regional schools — kind of going into the safest program or best pilots, but we've done, I'd say pretty good."
TSTC hosting the National Intercollegiate Flying Association's regional tournament allows seven schools to sharpen their skills in the air.
Competition events include Message Drop, Navigation, Preflight Inspection, and Short-Field Landing.
The competition will allow the pilots to put their best foot forward.
"It's more of like an eye-opener for me — it's like, 'Man, I do love this'," Bush said.
"I joined it because this is another thing I can do to push my dream forward to become true to become an aviation professional."
No matter where the students are competing, they know the experience gained in Waco will propel them to success in the future.
"The whole goal is to build skills for pilots," said TSTC Flight Team Advisor, Elaine Porterfield.
This puts these competitors high in the sky, and for good reason.
The United States will likely have a shortage of nearly 30,000 pilots by 2030.
"It takes you to the next level in aviation," said University of Oklahoma Aviation student, Morgan Moore.
"I think people that come here really have a passion for what they do and to be competitive in what they do — it's a whole different level of expertise."
The NIFA Region 4 SAFECON competition runs through Friday, Oct. 18 at TSTC's Waco Airport.
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