Eight Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) top performing students and staff had the opportunity to fly aboard the Blue Angel's C-130 Hercules transport aircraft July 15 during the Pensacola Beach Air Show.

Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class James Harrison, NATTC Avionics Department's Aviation Electronics Technician (Organizational) Strand leading petty officer, was looking for a unique way to reward top performing students for their hard work and leadership. He reached out to the U.S. Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, and after a few months of coordination was able to arrange a flight in "Fat Albert" for six Navy and Marine Corps students and two NATTC instructors.

Lance Cpl. Tyler Thurman, Airman Apprentice Sean Bateman, Airman Gloyd Bucknor, Pfc. Ashmita Singh, Airman Christian Rivera, and Airman Apprentice Marcos Hinojosa were chosen based on grades earned during their respective courses of study and demonstrating strong leadership skills. Harrison and Chief Aviation Electronics Technician Eric Burch accompanied the students.

For more than 70 years, with the last two decades at Naval Air Station Pensacola, NATTC has been providing training and increasing readiness within the Naval Aviation Enterprise. The facility graduates approximately 23,000 Navy, Marine Corps and international students annually and is the largest training facility in the Navy post Recruit Training Command.

NATTC is part of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT), which provides single site management for Navy and Marine Corps aviation technical training.

CNATT is the technical training agent for the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE), an organization designed to advance and sustain naval aviation warfighting capabilities at an affordable cost, and is the largest training center under the Naval Education and Training Command.

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training, visit www.navy.mil/.