WMU precision flight team takes flight with national top five finish, lifelong industry connections
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The Sky Broncos, Western Michigan University’s precision flight team, landed in fifth place in a national contest in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
The 14-member team competed at the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) National Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) May 12-17 at the Wittman Regional Airport, featuring 28 teams representing nine regional competitions.
Overall performances helped the WMU team earn fourth place for the judges’ trophy, fourth in ground events and sixth in flight events. The judges’ trophy scores team depth by assigning points to each competitor’s placement in all events, while points earned for top 20 placement in each event go toward the championship title.
“I am proud of the hard work and dedication that the team showed this year. As always, each competition season poses its own set of challenges, and the team did a great job to overcome those," says coach Nick Olnhausen, Western graduate and flight instructor at the College of Aviation. “We battled weather throughout the competition days and even had to evacuate the planes to a different airport in order to find hangar space before the severe storms came in. This was a brand-new challenge to our team but also everyone else at the event,” he continues. “Despite everything that was working against us, it was awesome to see the team persevere and once again land in the top five!”
Senior Karsten Kotchenruther, who has been a member of the Sky Broncos for three years, says the team has been “one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, both professionally and personally.
“I have built a wide variety of valuable flying skills that I would not have gotten otherwise, and I have been fortunate to build positive relationships through the team that will carry with me for the rest of my life,” Kotchenruther says.
Besides honing his skills as an aviator, senior Daniel Souppa says he has made valuable networking connections through the team.
“As a ground event captain, I have also gained leadership and organizational skills that I use to improve my performance in class and in my everyday life. The connections through flight team alumni and exposure to other collegiate flight teams at competition offers great networking opportunities within the industry and lasting connections can be easily made,” Souppa says.
“The Sky Broncos has helped me develop my piloting skills in ways no other group could. Throughout my time at WMU I was able to work with flight instructors from the team who understood me on a personal level and were able to offer me advice, both in flying and in my career, that impacted me personally. Now, as I leave WMU, I'm able to make an easy transition into the airline world with them helping me along the way,” adds senior Evan Hoyle.
The team qualified for the national competition after achieving first place in both flight and ground events at its regional competition Oct. 6-11 at Ohio State University.
2024-25 Sky Broncos
Below is information on the 2024-25 Sky Broncos team members and their first- through 20th-place finishes at the 2025 NIFA National SAFECON. All members are aviation flight science majors unless noted.
- Andrew Callaghan is a freshman from Kentwood, Michigan.
- Sean Edelman is a junior from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- Lucas Foster, a junior from Cornelius, North Carolina, placed 13th in computer accuracy.
- Nathan Gute, a senior from Owasso, Michigan, was the fifth highest-scoring contestant and placed fourth as dropmaster in message drop, seventh in aircraft preflight inspection, 11th in power-off landing and 16th in short field landing.
- Nancy Hohlbein, a sophomore from Petoskey, Michigan, placed 18th as dropmaster in message drop.
- Evan Hoyle, a senior from Rockford, Michigan, placed eighth in aircraft recognition.
- Karsten Kotchenruther, a senior from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is an aviation flight science and aviation management major and placed seventh in computer accuracy, eighth as safety observer in unlimited navigation, 17th in ground trainer and 18th as pilot in message drop.
- Gerald Lucas is a junior from Lake Villa, Illinois.
- Andrew Maciejewski, a sophomore from Hudsonville, Michigan, placed first as pilot monitoring in crew resource management/line-oriented flight training (CRM/LOFT) and eighth in computer accuracy.
- Nathan Merrill, a junior from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, was selected as outstanding team member,
- Naman Mody, a senior from Bensalem, Pennsylvania, placed 12th in aircraft preflight inspection.
- Tapan Puranik is a sophomore from India.
- Daniel Souppa, a senior from Jacksonville, Florida, was named third regional top pilot and placed fourth as pilot in message drop, sixth in short field landing, 16th in instrument simulated flight and 18th in simulated comprehensive aircraft navigation (SCAN).
- Dylan Van Holton, a sophomore from Lancaster, California, was the 19th highest-scoring contestant and placed first as pilot in CMR/LOFT, eighth in both SCAN and as a pilot in unlimited navigation.
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