Amanda Lee (pilot)

Amanda Lee (born c. 1986) is a naval aviator in the United States Navy. She was selected in June 2022 as the first female fighter jet pilot in the elite Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron. Lee made her debut as the Left Wing demo pilot in the number three jet on March 11, 2023, in El Centro, California, and is currently the Slot Pilot in the number four jet. She uses the call sign "Stalin".

Early life
Lee is from Mounds View, Minnesota, and in 2004 graduated from Irondale High School in Minnesota. She competed in many sports while in high school: ice hockey, soccer, and swimming. She attended the University of Minnesota Duluth and enlisted in the United States Navy. In 2007 she graduated from Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois. In 2013 she graduated from Old Dominion University with a B.S. in biochemistry.

Career


After enlisting in the U.S. Navy, Lee served as an aviation electronics technician. In 2013, she became a commissioned officer and started training as a naval pilot at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. In 2016 she became a naval aviator. She was then assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman to support Operation Inherent Resolve. As part of her training she successfully completed 225 carrier-arrested landings and 1,400 flight hours. She has four Navy Achievement Medals and other personal and unit awards.

Blue Angels
In July 2022, Lieutenant Lee was announced as the first woman to join the Blue Angels as a demonstration pilot, and as the second woman in the team, after USMC Captain Katie Higgins Cook who joined in 2015, flying the C-130 Fat Albert transport plane.

In September 2022 she was assigned to the "Gladiators" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106, based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia. She flies the F/A-18E and the F/A-18F Super Hornet. Her induction and training as a new Blue Angels pilot was captured in the 2024 film The Blue Angels.

Lee's first performance as the Left Wing demo pilot with the Blue Angels took place on March 11, 2023, in El Centro, California. She also performed before an estimated 100,000 people at the MCAS Beaufort Airshow on May 22 and 23, 2023. She was cheered at the show on both days as she climbed into the cockpit of her number three aircraft.

LCDR Lee is currently the Slot Pilot, at the number four jet.