Learn about exciting developments within Middle Tennessee State University’s highly touted and exploding Aerospace Department on a special October 2023 edition of the “Out of the Blue” television magazine program.

You can watch the full program below:

In this month’s edition: 

• Host Andrew Oppmann revisits the Sept. 21 announcement at the Shelbyville Municipal Airport where Gov. Bill Lee joined MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, Shelbyville Mayor Randy Carroll and other state and local officials and a host of university staff and supporters to officially announce the Aerospace program’s project to build state-of-the-art facilities in Shelbyville to accommodate the continued growth of its pro pilot and related programs.

• We go on a flight with MTSU aerospace alumnus and current graduate student Sean Logan, who shares about his experiences as a flight instructor operating the DA-40 single-engine Diamond Aircraft that have become a program mainstay. Logan also shares about his experience as a Civil Air Patrol cadet and how it solidified his choice to attend MTSU.

• And we recap a recent visit by representatives from Southwest Airlines where Southwest and the Aerospace Department cemented the university’s participation in the airline’s Destination 225° pilot pathways program. On a compass rose, 225° is the southwest heading, and the Destination 225° program provides several pathways designed to meet future aviators where they are at their current experience level and create opportunities to take them to the right seat of a Southwest aircraft.

You can watch “Out of the Blue” anytime online on MTSU’s YouTube channel and on MTSU’s True Blue TV, airing on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Central and on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, as well as on NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays.

“Out of the Blue” also is available as iTunes and Google Play podcasts and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings. Enjoy previous editions of “Out of the Blue” here in our archives, too.

Interview segments of the monthly “Out of the Blue” TV show are also released weekly as individual podcasts on Spotify. You can find them at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3. 

— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)