NMC Aviation students Grace Soneral (left) and Rachael Kornoely at the Air Race Classic
September 23, 2026
When Aviation student Grace Soneral starts looking for her first pilot job, she wants both her own resume and those of her fellow NMC flight students to rise above the pack.
So Soneral is co-captaining NMC’s first competitive flight team, which in two weeks heads to Ohio as the only community college to compete in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s (NIFA) Region 3 competition. A kind of aviation track and field meet, with events both in the air and on the ground, NMC Aviation students pitched the idea of a team to NMC’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which awarded them the funding for a SAFECON (Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference) team last May.
‘It truly tests your skills as a pilot and shows that you are willing to go above and beyond,” said Soneral, 20, who started at NMC in summer 2025 and will graduate next spring. “This is an opportunity for NMC students to set themselves apart. Not a lot of two-year programs have that option.”
Two-year aviation programs are in fact the exception to the rule, as Soneral found out in June flying in the Air Race Classic, an all-female point-to-point race that this year covered more than 2,700 miles across the Midwest and South. She and her teammates found that their enthusiasm for NMC exceeded what students from four-year programs demonstrated.
“It was very eye-opening,” Soneral said. “We love NMC. I am proud to be an NMC student. They weren’t as in love with their flight programs as we are with NMC.”
“You’re getting in a plane a lot faster,” her NIFA co-captain Alex Modrzynski (left) said of NMC’s two-year structure. Last year’s addition of a new hangar and eight new planes, which enabled Aviation to double its enrollment, also makes it timely for NMC to raise its profile now.
“We’re rivaling, in our fleet size, other schools in the country,” said Modrzynski, 32, who will graduate this semester. “I love it. I don’t think there’s anywhere more beautiful to fly than northern Michigan.”
NMC’s support of the team via the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship also aligns with the college’s strategic goal to provide real-world learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom. The flight competition team was one of six projects OIE funded in May. Applications for a fall round of funding are open through Oct. 15.
“My voice was taken seriously and I was supported by the program,” said Soneral, who advocated for the team.
Under the coaching of flight instructor Joel Cairns, NMC will compete against Ohio State University, Western Michigan, Kent State, Bowling Green and Fairmont State in simulation events, written tests and preflight checks, all ground events, at the competition Oct. 4-9 in Bowling Green. Next year, when WMU hosts, they hope to enter flying events.
“We want the safest pilots we can have out there,” Modrzynski said. “This is a great way to do it, and have a little fun.”
“I grew so much as a pilot on the Air Race. I’m going to be a safer, smarter pilot in the future because of this,” Soneral said.