What would the airport of the future look like? As this collection of links to past articles in Popular Science makes clear, from the 1930’s through the 1960’s, people have floated some pretty wild ideas, including floating airports. Other possibilities? Skyscraper airports, airports with cotton runways, and rotary airports.
What’s your idea for the airport of the future?
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Beatles being “The Beatles” so I’m planning a visit to the Liverpool John Lennon Airport, where the slogan is “above us only sky.”
Poking around the airport’s website this weekend, I discovered that it’s really easy to get to JLA from Amsterdam and that the Liverpool airport has a John Lennon statue, a yellow submarine, and lots of Lennon, Beatles, and other art that I hope to be able to see – and report back on – in person.
In the meantime, I was delighted to find a downloadable Fossil Mystery Tour brochure on the John Lennon Airport website. Many of the limestone slabs used to build the terminal contain fossils and, with the brochure in hand, you’ll be able to walk around the terminal and see Ammonites, Belemnites and Trace Fossils.
Poke around on some airport websites and you’ll find some fun, surprising and educational stuff.
Case in point: the Oakland International Airport (OAK) site, which has a link to the Exploratorium’s instructions on how to fold a paper airplane, information about the Oakland Aviation Museum, which sits on the airport’s North Field,
and a great historical video about the history of the airport and its connections to Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and other aviation pioneers.
You can watch the entire 20-minute video, or see bite-size segments of the film on the OAK website.
Earlier this week, while waiting for Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger’s presentation at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, I spent some time in the Amelia Earhart exhibit. And while I don’t think I’ll take up flying my own plane anytime soon, I keep thinking about getting some new luggage.
Amelia Earhart endorsed a long list of products ranging from cars, cigarettes and clothing to what one press release described as nothing less than “the first truly practical and genuine airplane luggage.”
Earhart may have disappeared in 1937, but it appears a line of luggage bearing her name was produced well into the 1990’s. And while I haven’t come upon anything from that line in the thrift stores near me, I did poke around the Museum of Flight gift shop to see if I could find something under $10 and “Amelia” for today’s Souvenir Sunday feature.
The only items that fit the bill were a few young adults books, including this one from the National Geographic Children’s Books series that includes photos, quotes from Earhart’s writings, theories about how she vanished, and maps of the route she followed on her last flight.
Monday evening I was fortunate to be in the audience at Seattle’s Museum of Flight for a presentation by the recently retired Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the now-legendary pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 who was able to successfully land a plane in New York City’s Hudson River.
He began the evening by showing the NTSB’s animated version of the US Airways 1549 flight path (below) and then went on to talk a bit about his family, his upbringing, his training as a pilot, the importance of preparation and teamwork, and his philosophy of work and life. After he was done, some of the kids in the audience got to ask a few questions as did some of the aviation geeks from our high-tech community.
(Here’s a link to a more detailed report on the evening by SeattlePI.com aerospace reporter Aubrey Cohen)
Before Captain Sullenberger’s speech, I spent some time in the Amelia Earhart exhibit, which will be at the museum until May, 2010. In addition to photo panels and film clips telling Ms. Earhart’s life story, there’s a section showing some of the products she endorsed to help pay the bills, including Amelia Earhart luggage and Lucky Strike cigarettes.
All in all, quite an inspiring evening.
From now through June 1, 2010, a collection of photographs and accessories from the classic Packard automobile will be on display in Terminal A at John Wayne Airport (JWA). The items are on loan from Orange County’s Packard International Motor Car Club and include hood ornaments, Packard ephemera, and photos of Packards, including this 1932 Twin Six Packard Phaeton owned by actress Jean Harlow
And this month, in recognition of Women’s History Month, the American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum near DFW International Airport, is hosting a photo exhibit honoring the contributions of women who have worked for American Airlines and, on Saturdays, showing a series of movies featuring women in aviation.
This year, while Denver International Airport (DEN) turns 15, Denver Health is celebrating its 150th year of service to the community.
To mark the occasion, the airport is hosting an exhibit about the history of the health care organization in the A Gates Mezzanine Gallery and in the C Gates Center Core.
Historical photographs dating back to the 1930’s are on display, along with artifacts, and memorabilia. And for those who can’t make it to the airport before the end of April, 2010, there’s this short video of the Denver Health Art Exhibit, which gives a nice overview of the items on display.
Photographs courtesy: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.
The Chinese New Year will be celebrated this Sunday and Singapore’s Changi Airport is ready with giant displays to welcome in the Year of the Tiger:
Changi Airport also opened up an Aviation Gallery in Terminal 2, with loads of information stations, interactive kiosks, and 600 tiny airplanes hanging from the ceiling.
Here’s a “please-touch” fire-fighting suit worn by airport emergency officers:
And here’s a bench in the Changi Aviation Gallery that doubles as a scale to show how airports tally up the weight of baggage.
(Photos courtesy Changi Airport Group)
(Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards at the world’s largest ski jump inside an airport)
Airports around the world are marking this year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver with special exhibits.
Yesterday, the Reno Tahoe International Airport (RNO) opened an Olympics museum inside the terminal.
This past weekend, Düsseldorf International Airport trucked in tons of snow to make the world’s largest indoor ski jump at an airport.
And now the Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) has a new exhibit, Champions on Ice and Snow, that pays tribute to athletes who have represented Canada at the Winter Olympics.
The exhibit includes skates worn by Kurt Browning, a four-time World Champion figure skater, skis that belonged to alpine skier Anne Heggtveit, and a reproduction of a sweater, hat and mittens worn by “Canada’s Sweetheart” Barbara Ann Scott, who won a gold medal in figure skating in 1948. Life-size action photos of athletes such as a speed-skatering Gaétan Boucher, who won three medals at the 1984 Winter Olympics, are also included.
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Look for Champions on Ice and Snow at Toronto’s Pearson Interational Airport in Terminal 1, near Gate 120, domestic departures, through June, 2010,
Today, February 8, 2010, is opening day for a new Olympic History Museum at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO).
Designed to draw attention to efforts to bring the winter games to Reno in 2022 and to the upcoming 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, the museum celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympic Winter Games.
The museum has flags from all the countries that were represented at the 1960 Olympics,as well as photos, magazines, uniforms, the Longine Clock, and much more. Passengers can have a picture taken in Olympian fashion while standing on the platforms used during the awards ceremony: the US flag hangs above the Gold podium, the Canadian flag above the Silver podium, and the British flag above the Bronze podium.
Today’s opening ceremony will kick off with an Olympic parade, complete with trumpeters sounding the Olympic Theme Song, Olympians carrying the U.S. and Nevada Flags, and a replica of the Olympic flame. The Squaw Valley Rescue Dogs, who will be traveling to this year’s winter games in Vancouver, Canada, will also be on hand.
The Olympic History Museum will be on exhibit at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport through the end of 2010.