SMYRNA, Tennessee — The Department of Aerospace at Middle Tennessee State University was out in full force Saturday, June 14, at the Great Tennessee Air Show.

MTSU was the presenting sponsor for the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels precision flight team. About 25 faculty and students worked in a display tent about the aerospace department that featured two training aircraft.

“It’s important not only to expose our aerospace department, but our school,” said Tyler Babb, an assistant professor of aerospace and organizer of the air show effort for the university.

“There are a lot of people in the community who know about us, who know that we’re there, who know we’re a big school,” he continued, “but to actually show up (at the air show) and hand them information about our school is a very direct link.”

You can watch a video from the day’s events above.

President Sidney A. McPhee and Dr. Bud Fischer, dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, toured the Air Show on Saturday and spent time with students and faculty at the MTSU aerospace tent.

“It’s very appropriate for MTSU, one of the premier aerospace universities in the country, to have a very visible and prominent role at one of the nation’s top air shows,” McPhee said.

The president  said he also was pleased to see two of the aerospace department’s Diamond DA40 aircraft at the show. Show goers were allowed to climb behind the controls of the aircraft.

“We have made considerable investments in our aerospace department,” McPhee said. “I’m pleased our partnership with the Great Tennessee Air Show allows us to showcase our program.”

McPhee and other MTSU representatives toured the flight line after the Blue Angels’ show and met with the Navy and Marine pilots and crew members.

The air show continues Sunday. For more information, visit greattennesseeairshow.com. For more information about the Department of Aerospace at MTSU, visit www.mtsu.edu/aerospace.

— Andrew Oppmann (andrew.oppmann@mtsu.edu)

Skip Stewart, left, a 1992 graduate of MTSU’s Department of Aerospace, meets with MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee following Stewart’s aeronautical performance at the 2014 Great Tennessee Air Show in Smyrna. (MTSU photos)

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, center, meets with students and faculty of MTSU’s Department of Aerospace, one of the primary sponsors of the 2014 Great Tennessee Air Show in Smyrna. MTSU was the presenting sponsor for the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels demonstration flight squadron, and the aerospace department also operated an information tent on the tarmac.

Students and faculty from MTSU’s Department of Aerospace look on as members of the public view one of the university’s two DA-40 Diamond Star training aircraft on display at the Great Tennessee Air Show in Smyrna on Saturday, June 14.