October 19, 2012

Media Advisory -- Air National Guard C-130 visit

Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to cover the landing and visit of an Illinois Air National Guard C-130 to SIU Carbondale on Monday, Oct. 22.

The plane, which is from the 169th Airlift Squadron out of Peoria, will stop at Southern Illinois Airport to allow approximately 125 members of SIU Carbondale's U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) to tour the aircraft and the University’s Transportation Education Center, which is adjacent to the airport. Capt. Troy Gryga, a 2003 aviation management graduate, is the flight commander of the C-130. Gryga was part of ROTC Detachment 205 while at SIU Carbondale before joining the Air National Guard.

The aircraft is set to land around 4 p.m. and depart at 6:45 p.m.

For more information, contact Lt. Col. Melanie Friedman, the commander of the University's Air Force ROTC, at 618-453-2481.