SLU's Flying Billikens Taking Off for 2025 National Intercollegiate Flying Competition
ST. LOUIS - A team of aviation science students from Saint Louis University’s School of Science and Engineering are heading to Oshkosh, Wisconsin this weekend for the 2025 National Intercollegiate Flying Association Competition.
The 2025 Flying Billikens team will compete in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association competition. Submitted photo.
The Flying Billikens from SLU’s Oliver L. Parks Department of Aviation Science secured their national spot last fall in the Region VI SAFECON event.
“We’re very excited to have earned an invitation back to the national competition for another year in a row,” said coach Jack Schwarz. “This team loves the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills, motivated by their competitive spirit, year-round — and this provides such a great opportunity for just that. We are proud to represent SLU at the highest level of collegiate aviation competition.”
SLU will be one of 30 teams competing in various aviation exercises. The nearly 400 competitors will be challenged in navigation, short-field landing, power-off landing, message drop, ground training, aircraft recognition, computer accuracy, and instrument flight rule events.
The Flying Billikens are led by executive board members Brendan Stoll, Sydney Nimerick and Sehwan Park. Additional competitors include Peter Belmonte, Finn Ceyssens, Harman Chauhan, Troy Ettenson, Jack Ingebretsen, Gavin Monthye, Gavin Nieters, Timothy Pipal and Xavier Supersad.
The National Intercollegiate Flying Association was formed to develop and advance aviation education; promote, encourage and foster aviation safety; promote and foster communications and cooperation between aviation students, educators, educational institutions and the aviation industry; and provide an arena for collegiate aviation competition.
The national competition will begin Monday, May 12, and run through Saturday, May 17.
About the School of Science and Engineering
Saint Louis University formed the School of Science and Engineering in 2022 to better meet the future needs of its students and faculty. The school brings together select departments from the College of Arts and Sciences — chemistry, computer science, earth and atmospheric sciences, and physics — with the former Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology. To learn more about the School of Science and Engineering, visit slu.edu/science-and-engineering.
Latest Newslink
- SLU Students Visit Rome for 2025 Jubilee, Audience with Pope Leo XIVEight Saint Louis University students, along with a Jesuit in Formation and two campus ministers, went to Rome before the fall semester began to participate in the Jubilee of Young People. The trip was sponsored by SLU's Department of Campus Ministry.
- Saint Louis University Museum of Art Opens Two New ExhibitionsSaint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA) presents two new exhibitions this fall. “From War to Classroom: The Bosnian Student Project” opens Friday Sept. 19, and “Intersections: Memory, Identity, and Place” opens Friday, Sept. 12.
- SLU AirCRAFT Lab's Unmanned Aerial System Named Most Innovative at Recent CompetitionAn unmanned aerial system (UAS) built by Saint Louis University's Aircraft Computational and Resource Aware Fault Tolerance (AirCRAFT) Lab was named the most innovative at the 2025 Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) Competition. The event is sponsored by RoboNation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing robotics education and workforce development.
- Museum of Contemporary Religious Art Opens Two New ExhibitionsSaint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) presents two exhibitions that explore the ways in which the places we inhabit shape us and are shaped by us. “To See This Place: Awakening to Our Common Home” and “Legacy: Selections from the Gerald R. and Mary Reid Brunstrom Gift of Art from Australia” open on Friday, Sept. 5.
