By University Communications
Tuesday, 11 08 2022

Former flight engineer and A&M-SA web services manager brings C-130 experience to life at University 

SAN ANTONIO — Texas A&M University-San Antonio (A&M-SA)’s Web Services Manager James Meyer, who served as a flight engineer in the Illinois Air National Guard, will bring his three-channel video installation, Beans • Bullets • Bandaids, to the University’s Patriots’ Casa. The immersive art exhibit is intended to give the viewer a glimpse into what the C-130 aircrew experiences when flying combat missions. 

Meyer captured the video over several deployments to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, where “sorties” were flown between Forward Operating Bases and Bagram, moving war cargo to and from the battlefield. In military aviation, a “sortie” is a combat mission of an individual aircraft, starting when the aircraft takes off. 

“I hung a camera behind the flight engineer seat in the C-130,” said Meyer. “By using a super wide-angle lens, I was able to show both inside the cockpit and the view out front of the aircraft. I recorded the cockpit audio and radio calls. The crew usually listens to three radios plus the internal banter. The footage is raw and only edited down for time.” 

The three-channel video installation displays raw footage from different phases of flight. The displays are close together, creating a distracting situation for the viewer, and the individual audio and video tracks become difficult to focus on as the viewer’s attention is easily drawn from one screen to another. 

“I want the viewer to feel confined, overstimulated and distracted as their senses are pulled from one thing to another,” Meyer said.

 After receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia College Chicago in 2001, Meyer taught photography and digital media at the university level for 10 years. He served in the Illinois Air National Guard and the United States Air Force Reserves as a flight engineer on both the C-130 and the C-5. While supporting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he flew more than 300 combat hours throughout the Middle East with over 10 deployments. 

After retiring from military service in 2016, the VA enabled him to go back to school and earn an associate degree in web development. He then returned to higher education, obtaining an entry-level position as a web developer at A&M-SA, where he currently serves as web services manager. 

Beans • Bullets • Bandaids officially opens on November 9, with a reception being held on November 10, 4-6 p.m., at Patriots’ Casa on the A&M-SA campus. The exhibit is free and open to the public and will be on display until November 18. 

To view the installation demo reel, click here.

###

About Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Established as a stand-alone university in 2009, Texas A&M University-San Antonio is a comprehensive four-year public university that reflects the culturally diverse, heritage-rich community it serves. Situated on nearly 700 acres in south San Antonio, the University offers 37 undergraduate degrees and 19 graduate degrees to nearly 7,300 students. A&M-San Antonio is home to the Henry G. Cisneros Institute for Emerging Leaders and the Cyber Engineering Technology/Cyber Security Research Center. The University holds the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) designation and is one of only 30 higher education institutions in the U.S. to have received the Seal of Excelencia certification from Excelencia in Education for its support of Latino student success. More than 77 percent of A&M-SA students identify as Hispanic, and approximately 60 percent are the first in their family to attend college. A&M-San Antonio is a military-embracing institution; in 2020, Military Times ranked the University No. 35 in the nation for “Best for Vets: Colleges.” Visit tamusa.edu for more information. #onamission