The event, which drew an estimated crowd of 1,000, featured performances by seasoned pilots and enthusiastic newcomers, with YouTube personalities Ryan Dembroski of Super Aero and Brian Turner from Just Plane Silly, along with other notable figures, serving as announcers.

Touring Class: Brandon Corn Soars to Victory

In the Touring Class, Brandon Corn, the current class standings leader on the 2023 National STOL Series tour, achieved a remarkable personal best with a takeoff distance of 138 feet in his No. 30 1965 Cessna 205 Black Betty. Corn’s performance in the aircraft with a gross weight of 3,300 pounds secured his victory in the class with a combined distance of 323 feet. 

Newcomer John McCardle took second place in his 1978 Maule M5-235C, while Jeff Abrams finished third in No. 65 Piperzilla, a 1965 Piper Cherokee 180C.

“Music City STOL was a great event—awesome crowd. The wind was in my favor, and everything just went right,” Corn said. “After that solid run, I knew we had them whooped. We will get her home and tuned up for the next event.”

Rookie Class: New Competitors Shine

The Rookie Class featured four new competitors. Justin Burkholder, an experienced pilot with 1,200 hours of flight time, shared his excitement about joining the competition. “I’ve got around 100 hours in the airplane,” Burkholder said.

Chase Bentley, flying a 1952 Cessna 170, emerged as the class winner with a takeoff distance of 468 feet. Daniel Donahue’s 1947 Stinson 108-1 secured second at 515 feet, and James Abbot was third in his 1958 Cessna 182B

Backcountry Class: Intense Competition Takes Center Stage

The Backcountry Class was the most competitive of the event, featuring a heated rivalry between the top competitors in the season standings. No. 99 Micah Lindstrom and No. 00 Jeff Pohl in the The Dirty Bird (the 2021 and 2022 National STOL Series Class Champion) battled it out against newcomer No. 52 Shawn Johnson in STOL Trooper—all piloting 1955 Cessna 170Bs.  Lindstrom led after the first round, but Johnson’s performance in the second propelled him into the lead. 

Despite a strong effort by Lindstrom, Johnson secured the victory with a second-round score of 244 feet. Wind gusts and shifts played a significant role in the outcome. Pohl expressed his frustration with his near miss: “I scratched by like 6 inches,” he said. “Otherwise, I think I might have had it.”

Johnson was left in disbelief upon learning he won the class. “No way! You’re joking. I didn’t expect that,” he said “I really thought I was the underdog coming into this event.” He had recently found his engine had three cracked cylinders and said the new powerplant contributed to the win. 

Adventure Class: The American Legend Cubs Shined 

In the Adventure Class, Keith Lange flew 47 hours in his No. 50 1956 Piper Cub Pepper from Wasilla, Alaska, to compete. The American Legend Cub MOACs battled it out, piloted by Brain Shirley (No 81) and Legend Cub Factory Luke Spoor (No. 71). Spoor dominated early as Shirley scratched in his first and fourth rounds. 

The rising density altitude posed challenges, but Spoor emerged as the class winner with a combined distance of 183 feet, followed closely by Shirley and Lange.

Sport Class: Competition, Short Takeoffs

Rich Boardman, a seasoned STOL competitor, was present in his No. 94 CubCrafters Carbon Cub SS and created some exciting competition with Joel Milloway, who piloted his Rans S-7 Tiger Shark. Nick Ardillo, also flying a CubCrafters Carbon Cub SS, endured a challenging start, scratching in his first, second, and fourth rounds. Ardillo secured his only score for the event in the third round with a distance of 234 feet, which earned him third place.

Boardman and Milloway engaged in a neck-and-neck race, with Milloway securing the first two round victories. However, in a nail-biting fourth round, Boardman edged out Milloway to win the class by 2 feet with a combined take off and landing distance of 177 feet—the shortest of the event—and earning him the title of the Music City STOL grand champion.

Unlimited Class: McInteer Seizes the Opportunity

With the absence of the usual top-ranked Unlimited Class competitors, both Charles Lilly and Patrick McInteer were feeling encouraged to showcase their abilities. McInteer narrowly edged out Lilly for the victory.

“I couldn’t be happier with our first year hosting National STOL for the Music City STOL Competition,” said Chad Hall, Music City STOL host, president of EAA Chapter 1343, and co-founder of BOLDAviation. “Having them come to Gallatin is truly next level for us and hopefully the first of many events like this we hope to see at our field. I’m truly grateful to Tom Wolf, Eric Farwell, Karen Flanary, and the whole National STOL team for coming to Gallatin and for our amazing volunteers, local pilots, city and county officials, and everyone else who helped make this happen.”

The National STOL Series continues to see growth, with an increasing number of new faces competing in events across the country. 

Visit the National STOL Series website to view the current season standings and the Music City STOL official scores.

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Frank Knapp, an Alaskan STOL pilot and current holder of the Valdez STOL record distance, and his wife, Kris, have been coordinating the STOL demonstration at AirVenture since its inception in 2014. Along with the Knapps, the elite of the STOL community were present to help put on a spectacular show.

Among the notables on the field were Russ Keith, founder of the ever-growing nonprofit organization  Airplanes & Coffee, and national STOL series founder Doug Jackson. 

STOL trailblazer Joe “Pops” Dory and STOL ”Queen” Anitra Goddard could be seen at the spot landing line, signaling to the fans if the landings were good or a scratch. 

The recognizable voices of Cory Robin and SuperAero Live YouTube host Ryan Dembroski, who announced for the series this season, could be heard over the loudspeakers engaging the crowd and narrating the piloting skills shown in each takeoff and landing.

The impressive lineup of demo pilots that the crowd was there to see flew in from everywhere to showcase their skills and aircraft. A majority of them jump between the growing STOL events that include STOL Drag, National STOL and ArkanSTOL. Eight of the 12 competitors flew in formation to Oshkosh from the national Sodbusters STOL competition that took place a short flight away in Hartford, Wisconsin, just days before the start of AirVenture.

The demo roster included some STOL greats (with airplane number in parentheses where applicable): (You can view the full details of the STOL demo pilots and their aircraft here.)

• Amir Bayani, STOL Bandits—(100) Carbon Cub EX-2
• Austin Clemens—(62) “The Dog” Aviat Husky A-1C
• Brian Steck—(221) “Scooter” American Legend Cub MOAC 
• Harold “Hal” Stockman—(3) “The Lawnmower III” RANS S-7S
• Jason Busat—(12) “Full Send” 2023 RANS S-20
• Jeff Pohl—(00) “The Dirty Bird” Cessna 170B
• Joe Dory—(53) “Wicked Pacer” Experimental Pacer
• John Young—(127) “Stickers” Aviat Husky A-1B
• Kyle Bushman—Backcountry Super Cub Rev 3
• Richard Ness and Nick Smith—Experimental PA18 L21 Yooper Super Cub
• Steve Henry—(44) “Yeehaw 8” Wild West Aircraft, Just Aircraft Highlander XL
• Tony Terrell—1954 Piper L-21B

The crowd cheered and celebrated as pilots hit the line and shared in the disappointment if there was a scratch. Unlike previous years, this year’s demonstration was a purist’s delight as no measurements were taken, giving the event the feel of a spot landing contest where the pilots had freedom to have little fun with it.  

Austin Clemens could be seen showing off his reversible pitch prop capabilities as he  “accidentally” pulled too far over the start/finish line. Steve Henry ran on his big tires most of the week, eventually switching to his now popular knobby tire setup, as requested by fans who visited his vendor booth throughout the week in Oshkosh. Jason Busat flew in from Alberta, Canada, and was excited to debut his new 2023 Rans S-20 in the demonstration. 

View highlights here at the National STOL Series YouTube Channel and here at the Wild West Aircraft YouTube Channel

“The most exciting part of co-announcing the STOL Demo at Osh this year was seeing all of the passion the audience had and being able to tell the story of safety and proficiency that permeates the STOL community,” said Dembroski. “Cory [Robin] and I had lots of amazing interactions with kids of all ages at the fence line, and if we inspired even one young boy or girl to pursue flight or STOL, we’ve done our jobs.”

The weather usually makes headlines during AirVenture, and this year was no different as the event experienced record-setting, sweltering hot days and powerful evening thunderstorms that turned the grounds into what has affectionately been dubbed “Sloshkosh.” The storms brought strong wind gusts that took out some tents, vendor booths, and a few ultralights.

The STOL demonstrations were originally scheduled to take place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, but because of the adverse weather conditions, the Friday event had to be canceled. The STOL pilots didn’t disappoint the unwavering crowd and made up for it with an engaging Q&A session moderated by Robin and Dembroski, where they passed out stickers and autographed posters.

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared on flyingmag.com.

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Here at FLYING, we’re excited to share “Episode 3: The Ground Competition,” the next installment of our six-part SAFECON 2023 series. This episode pulls back the curtain on the ground portion of the competition, showing you the intense prep and brain-teasing challenges the teams tackle.

• READ MORE: SAFECON Docuseries Episode Two: What Teams Qualified?

We’ll take you into the heart-pounding rush of the Aircraft Recognition Event, where competitors have a mere 15 seconds to identify an aircraft’s manufacturer, model number, and common name from a 3-second slide.

You’ll get to witness the mental gymnastics in the Computer Accuracy challenge, as contestants race against time, crunching complex flight planning calculations on a manual E6B flight computer.

And, we’ll show you the meticulous detective work involved in the Preflight Inspection Event, where participants comb over an aircraft seeded with 30 unairworthy discrepancies, racing to find as many as they can in 15 minutes.

• READ MORE: FLYING Launches SAFECON Docuseries

We’re releasing a new episode of our behind-the-scenes dive into SAFECON 2023 every week until the end of July. Tune in, and get a firsthand look at what it takes to be a NIFA SAFECON champion. See you next episode!

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on Flyingmag.com.

The post SAFECON Docuseries Episode Three: The Ground Competition appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Some of the current coaches and judges had their own experience with the annual Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) as early as the 1950’s. By the 1970s, growth led to the establishment of regional competitions with a singular focus: making it to the national championship.

This year, 28 teams representing nine regional competitions competed in the annual SAFECON National Championship in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Team members put their skills to the test in flying, navigation, knowledge, and mathematical computation—all while knowing their school’s legacy was on the line.

FLYING was there to capture the excitement and bring the inspiring stories of competitors and volunteers to light.

Who qualified? Watch “Episode 2: Who’s Attending Nationals”, the second in our six-part series documenting SAFECON 2023 as we reveal who were the best of the best.  Look for a new episode every week through the end of July.

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on flyingmag.com.

To watch episode one: FLYING Launches SAFECON Docuseries

The post SAFECON Docuseries Episode Two: What Teams Qualified? appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

For more than a century, the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) has inspired collegiate aviators to strive for excellence through competition. If you have ever participated in a NIFA event, you know the value of this competitive series goes well beyond the test of one’s skills. Its gatherings are an invaluable opportunity to network, learn, and be part of a community that will pay dividends for those who may choose to pursue a career in aviation.

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on flyingmag.com.

The post FLYING Launches SAFECON Docuseries appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.