Honestly, most people think the Blue Angels are just about flashy jets and loud noises. They aren't wrong, but there’s a much deeper story happening in the cockpit of those F/A-18 Super Hornets. For the first time in 76 years, a woman took the controls of a demonstration jet. Her name is Lieutenant Commander Amanda Lee.
She isn't just a "diversity hire" or a face for a recruitment poster. Far from it.
The path Amanda Lee took to get to the Amanda Lee Blue Angels roster is actually kind of wild. It didn't start at some fancy flight academy or as a legacy pilot following in her father's footsteps. It started on the ground, literally. She was an aviation electronics technician. She was the one fixing the planes, not flying them.
The Long Road from Technician to the Blue Angels
Amanda Lee didn't grow up going to airshows. That’s the first thing that surprises people. Growing up in Mounds View, Minnesota, she was more focused on ice hockey and swimming. She was a competitive athlete. That "team-first" mindset you see when the Blues fly 18 inches apart? That was forged on the ice and in the pool long before she ever touched a flight stick.
While attending the University of Minnesota Duluth, she decided to enlist. Not as a pilot. She joined as an "AT"—an Aviation Electronics Technician.
Imagine that for a second. You're out there on the flight line in the heat and the noise, turning wrenches and testing circuits on the F/A-18. You're looking up at the pilots and thinking, "I could do that." Most people just think it. Amanda Lee actually did it.
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She was selected for the Seaman-to-Admiral (STA-21) program in 2009. It’s a brutal, highly competitive commissioning path. She ended up at Old Dominion University, earned a degree in biochemistry, and finally got her commission in 2013. By 2016, she had her "Wings of Gold."
Why They Call Her "Stalin"
Every pilot has a callsign. Usually, it’s something embarrassing or a play on their last name. Amanda Lee’s callsign is "Stalin."
Before you get weirded out, it’s not a political statement. In the Navy, callsigns are earned through some sort of specific event or personality trait. For Amanda, it was a play on her name—"A. Lee" sounds like "Ali," and somehow, through the twisted logic of a ready room, "Ali" became "Stalin." It stuck. It’s a badge of honor in a world where your peers are your harshest critics and your best friends.
When she joined the Amanda Lee Blue Angels team in September 2022, she didn't just walk into the #3 jet. She had to earn it through thousands of hours of flight time and over 225 carrier landings. If you’ve ever seen a jet land on a carrier at night, you know it’s basically a controlled crash. Doing that 225 times takes a specific kind of nerve.
Breaking the "Jet" Barrier
A lot of news outlets got the "first female pilot" thing slightly wrong when she was announced. To be fair, Marine Major Katie Higgins flew the C-130 "Fat Albert" back in 2014. She was a powerhouse and a pioneer.
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But Amanda Lee was the first woman to fly one of the six core demonstration jets—the F/A-18 Super Hornets that do the Diamond 360 and the Double Farvel.
During the 2023 season, she flew the #3 Left Wing position. By 2024, she moved to the #4 Slot position.
The slot is arguably the most stressful spot in the formation. You are tucked in behind the lead, surrounded by wings on both sides. You have to scan in every direction. It’s the "backup" and the eyes of the formation. If you mess up in the slot, the whole diamond is in trouble.
What Most People Get Wrong About Her Role
The Blue Angels mission is about outreach, sure. But for Lee, it was always about the flying. In a 2019 interview, she famously said she is a "pilot first, person second." Her gender wasn't the headline for her; the mission was.
She was actually part of the first-ever all-female flyover in 2019. It was for the funeral of Captain Rosemary Mariner, the first woman to command an operational naval aviation squadron. Lee didn't see herself as the "new" thing; she saw herself as the continuation of what Mariner started.
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Life After the Blue Angels
As of 2026, Amanda Lee's tour with the Blues has concluded. Blue Angel assignments are typically two-year rotations. You don't stay there forever. You go back to the "Fleet."
She’s currently serving as a department head at VFA-87. She’s getting ready for a deployment on the USS Gerald R. Ford. That’s the reality of a Navy pilot—one year you’re performing for 100,000 people at an airshow, and the next you’re on a carrier in the middle of the ocean doing the real work of national defense.
Actionable Insights from the Amanda Lee Story
If you're looking at the Amanda Lee Blue Angels legacy and wondering what it means for you or your kids, here’s the reality:
- The Pivot is Real: She started as a mechanic. She didn't let her "entry point" define her ceiling. If you want to change careers or aim higher, the Navy (and life) has pathways if you’re willing to outwork everyone.
- Resilience Over Ego: Formation flying at 18 inches apart requires being "humble every single day," as Lee puts it. You have to take criticism from your teammates without getting defensive.
- Visibility Matters: Even if she considers herself a "pilot first," the image of her climbing out of that #4 jet has changed the "internal script" for thousands of girls who now see that cockpit as a workspace, not a dream.
The best way to support this legacy isn't just by watching the show. It's by looking at the Seaman-to-Admiral programs and the technical roles that most people overlook. Behind every pilot is a crew of maintainers, and as Amanda Lee proved, sometimes those maintainers are just pilots who haven't started their engines yet.
If you're heading to an airshow this year, don't just look at the maneuvers. Look at the discipline. That’s what Amanda Lee brought to the team, and that’s what she’s taking back to the fleet.