9.5.17

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V THE VIDETTE

SPORTS 8

VIEWPOINT / JEFFERS 4

’BIRDS SOAR OVER BULLDOGS IN OPENING GAME

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

TRIGGERS ARE NO LAUGHING MATTER NEWS 3

MASTER PLAN IN PLACE TO FIX BLOOMINGTON ROADS FEATURES 6

INTERNSHIPS HELP STUDENTS IN THE LONG RUN videtteonline.com

Vol. 130 / No. 05

Cheering on to victory

‘Redbird 7’ plane crash details revealed Contributing factors include pilot fatigue, excess weight on aircraft KEVIN SCHWALLER News Editor | @kevschwa

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Shea Grehan | Vidette Photographer

The Illinois State University Redbird football team welcomed students to a season opener 45-0 win over Butler University Saturday at Hancock Stadium. During halftime, the Big Red Marching Machine and ISU Cheerleading team performed rock classics such as “Take On Me” by A-ha under fireworks, a tradition for the first home game.

ederal investigators revealed in a final report that several factors, including pilot fatigue and equipment problems, contributed to the 2015 plane crash that killed seven men near Central Illinois Regional Airport. “The National Transportation Safety Board [NTSB] determines the probable cause of this accident to be the pilot’s failure to maintain control ... which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall/spin,” the NTSB said in its final report on the crash. The NTSB also reported there was too much weight in the back of the Cessna twin-engine craft. “Contributing to the accident were pilot fatigue, the pilot’s increased workload during the instrument approach resulting from the lack of glideslope guidance due to an inadequately connected/secured glideslope antenna cable, and the airplane being loaded aft of its balance limit,” the NTSB reported. Victims of the crash included ISU men’s basketball associate head coach Torrey Ward, Deputy Director of Athletics Aaron Leetch, co-owner of Pub II Terry Stralow, Eureka Locker Co. owner Scott Bittner, national account manager at Sprint/ Nextel Andy Butler, Secord-Jones Wealth Management Group senior vice president Jason Jones and pilot Tom Hileman. The airplane crashed as it tried to land at the nearby airport after a trip to Indianapolis to watch an NCAA Tournament basketball game. The NTSB found no evidence that Hileman suffered from cumulative or acute sleep loss, but noted Hileman’s stress level at the time of the crash likely mixed with fatigue. “His difficulty maintaining pitch control of the airplane with an aft CG contributed to his degraded task performance in the minutes preceding the accident,” the report said. Family members of the victims started “Project 7” a year after the crash, in an effort in honor of the men’s lives and to encourage Bloomington-Normal residents to promote acts of kindness. A memorial for the victims is located outside the Redbird Arena.

Full game recap page 8

First-generation students climb ladder to success STAR JOHNSON News Reporter | @Star2flyy_

Going to college is a big decision for millennials to make. While trying to find their place on campus, they make efforts to defeat

their stereotypes. Vice President of Student Affairs Levester Johnson said one of the biggest challenges of being a first-generation student is not knowing university environments. “The process of everything from applying to college to knowing financial resources and knowing how to network within the institutional community [are] some of the biggest challenges of people from those separate backgrounds of which I am a part of,” Johnson said. Although first-generation students may face challenges along the way, they add to the

diversity of the campus. “We bring a richness to this community. We help fill in what reality actually is for a majority of students who don’t come from our backgrounds,” Johnson said. Having a mentor gives students an introduction to campus life and it’s many opportunities. “I had a faculty member in high school who said ‘Levester, just remember, they will not understand everything about your world, but you will know everything about theirs.’” The Dean of Students offers nearly 40 RSOs where students can explore their inter-

ests, develop academics, and hone leadership skills. The skills students develop in their organization are valuable skills they will need in their professional careers. Senior psychology major Amma BonsuWiafe is a first-generation student with hopes of becoming a counselor. “At first, I wanted to be a pediatrician, but I realized the way I wanted to help kids wasn’t what a pediatrician does, whereas a school counselor actually helps kids in an academic and social situation,” Bonsu-Wiafe said. see FIRST page 2


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