September 11, 2013

Media Advisory – Blue Angels visit

U.S. Navy Lt. Ryan Chamberlain, a 2003 graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s aviation management program and an elite Blue Angel pilot, will visit with aviation students Friday, Sept. 13, after he arrives at 9:30 a.m. at Southern Illinois Airport.

Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to cover Chamberlain’s visit and there will be several opportunities to speak with him, aviation students and faculty.  With Chamberlain will be U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Kyle Storm, who maintains F-18s, and who will speak to aviation maintenance students enrolled in the university’s nationally recognized aviation program.

The best opportunity for interviews will be during an informal “meet and greet” session from 1 to 2 p.m. in the multipurpose room on the south end of the Transportation Education Center.

Chamberlain was chosen last year to be part of the famed Blue Angels flight demonstration team.  He joined the U.S. Navy in April 2006 with the hope to fly jets, after being a pilot with Trans States Airlines for about two years. He was assigned to a flight squadron in October 2009.

For more information, contact David NewMyer, chair of the Department of Aviation Management and Flight, at 618/453-8898.