Teaching The Right Stuff

Three students from the Sport Aviation Club at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach campus walked away with first and third-place finishes Sept. 26 at the US National Aerobatics Championship in Sherman (TX).

The club's participation in the aerobatic event was its first at the national level, and Embry-Riddle was the only university that entered in the national (non-collegiate) contest, according to the club's faculty advisor, Richard "Pat" Anderson, assistant professor of applied aviation sciences. "It was the 'big boys' contest," he said.

Nathan Hanford, a senior, is the new national champion in the primary category and Gregory Bruyn, a junior, is national champ in the sportsman category. Senior Devon Pym won third place in the primary category. Eight members of the club competed in the prestigious event, performing their aerial maneuvers in a Pitts Special S-2B, an aerobatic plane (file photo of Pitts, right).

Besides the Pitts Special, the club owns and flies a 1946 Piper Cub painted in original Embry-Riddle flight line markings and two gliders. The group has 90 members, making it one of the largest student organizations on campus.

FMI: www.erausportaviation.org