Questions about NIFA Nationals...

[Jmmccutc]

so four years of hard work from myself and a few other trying to build a machine out of a pile of dog poo but it's finally done...Kent State made the national NIFA competition for the first time in 22 years last week...i was just wondering what other school who go to the competition do for a practice schedule between your reginal meet and the big show...

~Jake

 

[IP076]

Check your PMs!

 

[Gutenberg]

We found airports on the way to nationals, stopped there for lunch and practiced landings, studied, etc. Normally, they bar teams from practicing at the competition airport except for very narrow time slots.

GO SOX

 

[Illini Pilot]

after regionals we were done for the semester, then picked it back up in late january with regular meetings (2x a week for most events). pretty much the same as before regionals, but a longer prep time.

 

[CaravanMan]

after regionals we were done for the semester, then picked it back up in late january with regular meetings (2x a week for most events). pretty much the same as before regionals, but a longer prep time.

Ditto. Good luck, and congrats on making Nationals! Say hi to Wally Funk, lol.

 

[GuppyPuppy]

My advice....drink heavily. (John Belushi, Animal House)

Dude, try not to get too caught up in Nationals. Bunch of geeky judges making sure you act "professional", at least their definition of the word. Too many students take the Nationals too seriously. The reality of the situation is that very few schools take most of the awards. Let's see...UND, ERAU (both campuses, but PRC is better), Western Michigan, Ohio State, USAFA, OK State, etc... What do these schools have in common??? Lots of money given to their flight teams. I remember that ERAU-DB had a $90,000 budget back in 1991. How are teams to compete with that?

Things I remember from Nationals...

1. Getting the whole team to sing "Why don't we get drunk (and screw)" while staging aircraft.

2. Contests with female team members like seeing who can blow the pitot tube to get the highest airspeed indication, and seeing how long they could suck on the stall horn.

3. Lighting fireworks as people were leaving the banquet.

4. Going to the strip club in New Orleans.

5. Dropping bikini underwear in the message drop competition.

6. Making fun of the UND team and Wally Funk

7. Playing football and frisbie.

8. Seeing the USAFA van on cement blocks with the wheels missing

9. Saran wrapping the ERAU-PRC van

10. Hanging our school's banner on UND's tower.

Anyway, to answer your question...keep practicing, maybe once a week for each event. Do your best, but don't fixate on the competition. My first year on the team made me believe that we were a bad a$$ team (before nationals). We walked away with zero awards.

Make sure you have some fun while you are at the competition. I can't tell you how many members of other teams wished they were on our team when they saw how much fun we were having.

Cheers!

GP

 

[CaravanMan]

My advice....drink heavily. (John Belushi, Animal House)

Dude, try not to get too caught up in Nationals. Bunch of geeky judges making sure you act "professional", at least their definition of the word. Too many students take the Nationals too seriously. The reality of the situation is that very few schools take most of the awards. Let's see...UND, ERAU (both campuses, but PRC is better), Western Michigan, Ohio State, USAFA, OK State, etc... What do these schools have in common??? Lots of money given to their flight teams. I remember that ERAU-DB had a $90,000 budget back in 1991. How are teams to compete with that?

Things I remember from Nationals...

1. Getting the whole team to sing "Why don't we get drunk (and screw)" while staging aircraft.

2. Contests with female team members like seeing who can blow the pitot tube to get the highest airspeed indication, and seeing how long they could suck on the stall horn.

3. Lighting fireworks as people were leaving the banquet.

4. Going to the strip club in New Orleans.

5. Dropping bikini underwear in the message drop competition.

6. Making fun of the UND team and Wally Funk

7. Playing football and frisbie.

8. Seeing the USAFA van on cement blocks with the wheels missing

9. Saran wrapping the ERAU-PRC van

10. Hanging our school's banner on UND's tower.

Anyway, to answer your question...keep practicing, maybe once a week for each event. Do your best, but don't fixate on the competition. My first year on the team made me believe that we were a bad a$$ team (before nationals). We walked away with zero awards.

Make sure you have some fun while you are at the competition. I can't tell you how many members of other teams wished they were on our team when they saw how much fun we were having.

Cheers!

GP

Nicely said, GP! We were a good Regionals team, but at Nationals we were always in the middle of an 8 way tie for last place, hehehe (although that's improved a lot since I left...wonder why, lol)! I know I always gave it my best shot at whatever event I was in, but our whole team was there to enjoy it and have a lot of fun. Sounds like GP and his team got some good pranks in! Many of those on his list sound familiar! Our team and CMSU had a great time at every competition. We always had to one-up the other with the best pranks.

Here are some of my fond memories, some pranks included:

1. Putting about 4 dozen crickets in a CMSU guy's soft-top Jeep.

2. Swiping a CMSU room key, then our team going in while they were gone and putting EVERYTHING in the room into the bathroom...EVERYthing...matresses too...lol, that was great!

3. Having a key made matching their rental van; moving it around the parking lot for a day or two just to confuse them, then filling it about 2 feet deep with packing peanuts.

4. "Discovering" a species of cricket in Stillwater that could fly and naming them "Fricketts."

5. Touring the Budweiser Brewery in St. Louis and watching the shocked, helpless looks on my teammates faces as they watched gallons and gallons of beer draining onto the floor from a tank.

6. Making fun of the ERAU robots...then watching them clean the floor with everyone!

7. Going to Cabellas in N. Dakota and watching a girl on our team perfom "suggestive" positions with a moose statue.

8. Pushing and pulling planes all over creation for too d**n long.

9. Being the first Nav team to fly...then sitting in isolation until the end of time...at least the girl I flew with was hot!

10. Seeing a gas station in the ghetto in Mississipi with a sign that said, "Loiter at your own risk."

Man, those were good times! You have to make the most of the competition. If you go there strictly to compete, you'll go nuts. Have fun! You'll make a lot of good friends while there.

 

[IP076]

3. Having a key made matching their rental van; moving it around the parking lot for a day or two just to confuse them, then filling it about 2 feet deep with packing peanuts.

6. Making fun of the ERAU robots...then watching them clean the floor with everyone!

7. Going to Cabellas in N. Dakota and watching a girl on our team perfom "suggestive" positions with a moose statue.

8. Pushing and pulling planes all over creation for too d**n long.

10. Seeing a gas station in the ghetto in Mississipi with a sign that said, "Loiter at your own risk."

Van Keys? Now, thats a hell of an idea! I think I witnessed that Moose act in Cabellas, was that in 01 or 03? Ditto on pushing the planes, I'd laugh my ass off at the first team to show up with one of those motorized tow bars....gotta love good ole Mississippi....That was Grenada right? What an interesting place.....

Yeah, Nationals are a blast, so, have some fun while your out there.

Oh yeah, thanks for the props on #6 there...I've been with that time for a while and I've always had fun at Nationals...not to mention, winning is pretty fun too

 

[BoilerUP]

IlliNOIS likes to put a bazillion "Institute of Aviation" magnets all over other school's vans. We got those f**kers good at UND in 2003, but they got us back hardcore last year. As our illustrious team captain, I was woken up at 6:15am with a phone call to "get my @ss downstairs and clean the van up". The Vasaline was a nice touch; it doesn't even come off with pressure washing. Nine Lives canned catfood might stink, but at least it washes off easily. You can deny it all you want, we know it was you guys

My favorite prank was Lewis putting a For Sale sign on our van. Of course we called the number on it, and it was answered by the girlfriend of a former Purdue graduate who flight instructed there. She had no idea WTF was going on, and neither did we...

And *everybody* makes fun of UND and ERAU teams. This past year the Riddle people were more outgoing than ever before, and the UND team was as snobbish and uptight as ever - I guess some things never change.

1. Daily Euchre tournaments (that I never participated in)
2. Super Troopers on DVD
3. A 10 hour flight from GFK to LAF in a Cessna 150
4. Chatting with scouting nav teams on the air-to-air
5. Hitting it big on the craps table during the Friday Night Event
6. Having two guys on my team totally scare the bejesus out of Ohio U by pretending to be Minneapolis Center on the air-to-air
7. Staying overnight at Grand Geneva Air Park
8. Whipping Lewis in touch football like Miami playing Duke
9. Using the callsign "Toto 1" when arriving into Salina
10. Losing the game/winning the mumbly
11. Steak & Shake after the banquet
12. San Jose State. I hope they make it back this year...

 

[groundpointsix]

And *everybody* makes fun of UND and ERAU teams. This past year the Riddle people were more outgoing than ever before, and the UND team was as snobbish and uptight as ever - I guess some things never change.

UND was at our hotel last year. Being a rather outgoing team (and one with girls no less), a couple of our people tried to strike up a conversation with a UND drone. The only words out of his mouth were "I need to go study now." Of course, they then proceeded to kick our ass over the course of the next week. Oh well, at least we had fun. Best 4 years of my life...shame I have to join the real world next month.

For the original poster-- take some time off. If you practice non-stop for the next 6 months you'll be so burned out it's rediculous.