Dr. Fred Pestello, President | St. Louis University
Dr. Fred Pestello, President | St. Louis University
A team of aviation science students from Saint Louis University’s School of Science and Engineering has earned a place in the 2026 National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Competition. This marks the third consecutive year that the Flying Billikens have qualified for the national event.
The team hosted NIFA's 2025 Region VI and VIII SAFECON event at St. Louis Downtown Airport from October 13 to 18. Ten teams from Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota participated in a series of aviation exercises. These included navigation, short-field landing, power-off landing, message drop, ground trainer activities, aircraft recognition, and computer accuracy tests.
Winners were announced during a banquet on Saturday following the competition.
The Flying Billikens achieved first place in two categories. Sam Kean received top honors in the ground trainer category while Brendan Stoll and Jack Ingebretsen took first place in traditional navigation.
Other individual honors for the Flying Billikens included:
Traditional Navigation: Brendan Stoll and Jack Ingebretsen (1st), Finn Ceyssens and Peter Belmonte (2nd), Sydney Nimerick and Sam Kean (3rd)
Ground Trainer: Sam Kean (1st), Sehwan Park (5th), Peter Belmonte (8th)
Aircraft Preflight: Jack Ingebretsen (8th), Sydney Nimerick (13th)
Message Drop: Evan August and Brendan Stoll (8th)
Aircraft Recognition: Daniel McGill (9th)
Short Field Landing: Christian Brickman (10th)
Computer Accuracy: Sehwan Park (15th)
Power-Off Landing: Peter Belmonte (15th)
Simulated Comprehensive Aircraft Navigation: Peter Belmonte (10th), Sydney Nimerick (12th)
Top Pilot rankings went to Sydney Nimerick (11th), Brendan Stoll (12th), and Finn Ceyssens (13th).
Overall, the Flying Billikens placed fourth in both ground and flight events as well as overall standings. The executive student board is comprised of Brendan Stoll, Sydney Nimerick, and Sehwan Park.
According to NIFA's stated purpose: "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 upcoming national competition is scheduled for May 18-23, 2026 at Quad Cities International Airport.
Alerts Sign-up