Is the Flight Team Raising Money on 21R?
Brian Cutler
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Final Approach
The Golden Eagles Flight Team represents Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in collegiate competitions all across the country. When our flight team competes, it wins. When they win, we as a university, as students, and as alumni to the university win-or do we?
I was surprised a few weeks ago when I saw an addition to the flight team's precision landing markings on runway 21R at Ernest A. Love Field Airport. The word "FUND" is written across the center stripe in large capital letters. I started wondering, why would the flight team beg for money? Then it occurred to me: "FUND" is an acronym.
I'll leave the first letter to your imagination, but the last three likely refer to ERAU's archrival: the University of North Dakota. I suddenly found myself less amused. I also felt a certain disappointment by this display of poor sportsmanship. I actually feel embarrassed by the flight team that supposedly represents me as an ERAU Alumnus. The insult painted on runway 21R is a disgrace to both the flight team and the university.
In high school, I participated in speech and debate tournaments. I learned a lot about public speaking, about writing, and about various political topics. I learned something deeper, as well. I learned about how to compete, and how to win. I learned that receiving a trophy is not the end of winning.
Truly winning takes more character. Truly winning is about being better than your competitor. It is not about your competitor being worse than you. To insult your competition is to say that you have no better way to take the trophy than to tear your opponents down. If your opponent is truly weak, what kind of accomplishment is it to beat them? It is like taking candy from a baby. I submit that it is much more of an accomplishment to beat an opponent that is very strong. Winning then becomes a matter of building yourself up to be more than your opponent.
My debate experiences also taught me that I can respect and even be friends with my competitors. We played to win, but when a round was over, we recognized each others' strengths. We celebrated each others' accomplishments and mourned each others' losses.
I know that the flight team devotes a lot of time and effort to practicing their events. That effort is commendable. I suspect that members of other flight teams commit large quantities of time to their events, also. I think their efforts are also commendable and deserve better recognition than unrepeatable epithets. I hope that our flight team can begin to recognize the good in their competitors. After all, we all share at least one thing in common: our love for aviation. We will eventually all share the same skies and possibly even the same cockpits with those who represent our competition.
As the flight team makes final preparations for their national competition, I hope that they can take with them a renewed sense of sportsmanship. I also encourage those responsible for the markings on 21R to step up and remove the offensive markings from our public airport. Finally, I hope they can truly win.
I was surprised a few weeks ago when I saw an addition to the flight team's precision landing markings on runway 21R at Ernest A. Love Field Airport. The word "FUND" is written across the center stripe in large capital letters. I started wondering, why would the flight team beg for money? Then it occurred to me: "FUND" is an acronym.
I'll leave the first letter to your imagination, but the last three likely refer to ERAU's archrival: the University of North Dakota. I suddenly found myself less amused. I also felt a certain disappointment by this display of poor sportsmanship. I actually feel embarrassed by the flight team that supposedly represents me as an ERAU Alumnus. The insult painted on runway 21R is a disgrace to both the flight team and the university.
In high school, I participated in speech and debate tournaments. I learned a lot about public speaking, about writing, and about various political topics. I learned something deeper, as well. I learned about how to compete, and how to win. I learned that receiving a trophy is not the end of winning.
Truly winning takes more character. Truly winning is about being better than your competitor. It is not about your competitor being worse than you. To insult your competition is to say that you have no better way to take the trophy than to tear your opponents down. If your opponent is truly weak, what kind of accomplishment is it to beat them? It is like taking candy from a baby. I submit that it is much more of an accomplishment to beat an opponent that is very strong. Winning then becomes a matter of building yourself up to be more than your opponent.
My debate experiences also taught me that I can respect and even be friends with my competitors. We played to win, but when a round was over, we recognized each others' strengths. We celebrated each others' accomplishments and mourned each others' losses.
I know that the flight team devotes a lot of time and effort to practicing their events. That effort is commendable. I suspect that members of other flight teams commit large quantities of time to their events, also. I think their efforts are also commendable and deserve better recognition than unrepeatable epithets. I hope that our flight team can begin to recognize the good in their competitors. After all, we all share at least one thing in common: our love for aviation. We will eventually all share the same skies and possibly even the same cockpits with those who represent our competition.
As the flight team makes final preparations for their national competition, I hope that they can take with them a renewed sense of sportsmanship. I also encourage those responsible for the markings on 21R to step up and remove the offensive markings from our public airport. Finally, I hope they can truly win.
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