Museum of Flying — Attraction in Santa Monica

Excellent place for youth interested in areonautics. Upon entrance, the youth were given an opportunity to participate in a scavenger hunt. They had to find all of the featured aircraft within the building. There was a nice prize for all the participants. There were several aircrafts that the little one could actually get into and pull throttles, push buttons, turn various buttons etc.

We had an opportunity to meet a pilot that started to fly at age 17. He enlisted in the air Force, served 20 years and now flies for a major carrier. He explained the various jobs in the cockpit and how technology has eliminated many of the traditional jobs. We saw a replica of the " Wright Brothers" first engines aircraft. As we approached the display, the propellers started. We got a nice cool breeze from the propellers, a young man told us all about the "Wright Brothers aircraft & even hot air balloons. There was a theater upstairs that showed various clips of important "first" in aircraft history. There were pictures and posters of the Tuskegee Airmen, several presidents as they took their first flights. A replica of Almia Earnhardt's trans Atlantic aircraft was also displayed. Great place for anybody interested in airplanes. Highly...

This was a fun place! We chose this location because of the VR experience that was featured online, and the actual airplane cockpit that you can go into. Aaaaaand, both were not open that day (a Saturday). That was a let-down, but there were many other things that we busied ourselves with. There were old types and styles of airplane seats to sit in and to see the evolution of the design was a neat experience. I didn’t get his name, but I assume he is the owner was a very nice man. He took time out of his duties to talk to us about some questions we had, he taught us about ejection seats, and just overall provided a nice conversation.

Unfortunately, it turns out the reason the two features weren’t open that day is due to being short-staffed. The wall protruding cockpit has to be manned by its own employee as when left unmanned, visitors tend to damage things and people can get rowdy. It’s unfortunate this is the case for him, because he truly has a clear passion for this and his knowledge is immense; his heart is in this and so many people would...

Spent 2 hours here today. Arrived at opening time on Saturday and no problem with parking. Quite a few planes with descriptions of what they were used for, time in production, and other relevant data. The most impressive exhibit was a recreation if the Wright flyer with the propellers turning and a recreation of what it would have looked like in flight. You see the throttle, aileron, and wing warping controls. There is a video showing the story of their flights with kites, gliders and finally powered flight. The front part of the Federal Express plane was amazing. There was a current pilot giving a tour and describing what each station did and how it all changed over the years. The hatch to take sextant readings really lit me know just how uncertain it all was back then. No place to eat in the museum, but there is a restaurant just down the road. Restrooms and gift shop...