OSHKOSH, Wis. — Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Aerospace connected with aviation alumni from across the nation and industry leaders from around the world at this year’s Experimental Aircraft Association’s 2026 AirVenture, known as the world’s largest aviation experience.

Provost Mark Byrnes, Trustee Jimmy Granbery, Aerospace Chair Chaminda Prelis and Greg Van Patten, dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, led a team of students and flight instructors from the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, campus to the EAA grounds in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the July 20-26 event.

The 73rd annual AirVenture attracted an estimated 734,000 people, a new record, with 98 countries represented. More than 15,500 aircraft operations occurred at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh during the event, an average of about 101 takeoffs and landings per hour.

MTSU accepted delivery in Oshkosh of its 41st DA-40 training aircraft during a ceremony hosted by Diamond Aircraft of Canada, lead manufacturer for its 50-plus training fleet.

“We’re blessed to have such a great aircraft,” Granbery said. “We’re just proud as trustees to continue to promote and grow the program.”

The university also held a barbecue dinner for alumni and supporters at its tent near the EAA flight line. “Thank you for advocating for the department,” Patten told the alumni and industry leaders in the dinner audience. “And thank you for remaining connected to the university.”

In addition to officials from Diamond Aviation, Byrnes and the MTSU team visited with two other manufacturers of aircraft in the university’s fleet, including Piper Aircraft of Vero Beach, Florida, and Cirrus Aircraft from Knoxville.

And MTSU was featured in five video reels produced by Flying Magazine’s social media team and hosted by noted aviator and entrepreneur Jamail Larkins. Founded in 1927, Flying Magazine, now based in Chattanooga, also maintains an array of digital and social platforms.

“We love coming to Oshkosh,” Prelis told Flying Magazine. “We’ve been coming to Oshkosh for quite some time now, and bringing our students, bringing our equipment, our faculty are here — even our provost.”

The provost said MTSU students here also touched base with partners and prospective employers from Delta, Southwest, Endeavor and GoJet airlines.

“Big-time programs are represented at big-time events,” said Byrnes. “Given the size and success of MTSU’s Aerospace program, it’s important that we are visible and active here at EAA.”

It was an opportunity seized upon by students like Reese Webber, a Collierville, Tennessee, senior working on his professional pilot degree.

“I went over to the career fair tent … and I think I shook hands with at least 20 different pilots at about 15 different airlines,” Webber told Flying Magazine, adding that the experience was “pretty amazing.”

Byrnes, in his interview with Flying Magazine, reflected on the size and tradition of flight training at MTSU. Aerospace is the university’s largest major, with about 1,000 of the department’s enrollment of nearly 1,400 majoring in professional pilot training.

“It really goes all the way back to World War II, in which we were training pilots for the military, and it has evolved since then,” Byrnes said. “Now, in recent years, the (major’s) growth has really been dramatic, largely in response to the needs of industry.

“We hear from the airlines all the time — they need pilots,” he added. “And, so, we’re doing our best to supply them.”

MTSU also connected at EAA with Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. CAP’s national commander and CEO, Maj. Gen. Regena Aye, visited MTSU’s tent and invited Byrnes and others to tour CAP’s National Blue Beret compound on the EAA grounds, the base for CAP members serving as flight-line volunteers for AirVenture.

“Such a joy to get to speak about the great work that Middle Tennessee State University does,” Aye told Flying Magazine. “And our partnership with them, which is very impactful in the lives of our cadets.”

Aye also acknowledged that the university was hosting CAP’s national Cadet Engineering Technology Academy on campus during the same week of AirVenture. MTSU has partnered with CAP since 2014 and has hosted the academy since 2017.

“We have about 60 cadets there now, learning about aviation career fields,” she said. “And when you are on a college campus, and you get to experience what college students get to see and do on a daily basis, that inspires you to see yourself in that environment.”

Webber told Flying Magazine he saw himself at MTSU once he saw all it had to offer.

“So, not only do you get access to … a world-class aviation program, you’re flying brand-new airplanes,” he said. “You’re flying these brand-new Diamond DA-40s at honestly one of the most cost-effective schools in the country.

“The flight training is magnificent. I mean, the instructors, they care for you — and it’s wonderful.”

— Andrew Oppmann ([email protected])