Walter Dalitsch III was returning from a cousin’s wedding in upstate Illinois this fall when he saw the University of Illinois again for the first time in seven years. He didn’t have long to soak in his homecoming, however, as he experienced it from the cockpit of his Cessna 172RG airplane.
“I had to keep my eyes on the instruments and our altitude and so on, but I couldn’t help looking out and picking out such memorable landmarks as the Quad, the Illini Union, Foellinger Auditorium, Memorial Stadium, the Assembly Hall, and the expanse of the South Farms, where as students my dad and I both used to watch funnel clouds form during tornado season,” says Dalitsch, who is currently stationed in Pensacola, Fla., with his wife and seven-month-old son.
Dalitsch, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and philosophy (1988) and a medical degree (1993) from the U of I, serves as the command flight surgeon for the Navy and Marine Corps School of Aviation Safety at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where he said his LAS dual concentration in biology and philosophy are critical to his job.
“Philosophy...has allowed me to look at problems from an as yet unheard angle, and it has helped me solve many issues in my line of work. I think subtly, I use philosophy every day. And I find colleagues turning to me frequently for ethics questions as well,” Dalitsch says.
The flight was the first time Dalitsch had seen campus since 2002. He only had to alter his course slightly to pass over Champaign-Urbana, and he decided to set up an aerial photo shoot of campus as he and his family passed over it. His wife, Megan, who is also a private pilot, did the photographing while he flew the plane—while both ensured that their son, Walter Dalitsch IV, was safe and enjoying his ride.
