Seattle Museum of Flight

Places we’d go. Things we don’t want to miss.

Vacations, , , ,

Las Vegas wants you

Visitor numbers to Las Vegas have been declining. And the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is rolling out a national “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” campaign to lure visitors back.

In addition to the 60-second TV ad (below) that was launched during Thursday’s NFL season opener between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, the campaign includes a 3D anamorphic billboard in Times Square that will debut on Monday, September 15 and will feature images that seem to pop out of the 2D panel.

The campaign will also greet visitors at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) at the rideshare pickup zone in Terminal 1.

Starting Friday, Sept. 12, the “Fabulous Pickups” will feature colorful lighting, plush seating, music, and a neon selfie wall.

During special occasions, the zone will also host live performances, DJs and more.

Here’s a mock-up. But note the ‘note’ in the lower right-hand corner: “Purple benches will be finished in laminate, not tufted upholstered as shown.”

Tufted upholstery or not, this will be a welcome upgrade from the garage space that’s currently covered in cigarette butts.


Seattle’s Museum of Flight celebrates turning 60

Seattle’s Museum of Flight is marking its 60th anniversary with two days of events and special exhibitions on Saturday and Sunday, September 13 and 14.

During the weekend, the museum will also debut the newest addition to its aircraft collection: a classic Learjet 24A, which is about 60 years old.

Registered as N1965L, this plane was the twelfth in a production line of iconic personal jets that helped define the Sixties jet set, the museum explains.

Fresh Art at Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport (DEN) is showcasing Calaveras en Mi Ciudad, a mobile art exhibition that celebrates and pays tribute to Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), a holiday and day of remembrance in Mexico. 

Look for this artwork from November 3, 2025, to November 3, 2026, on DEN’s A-Bridge and on Concourse A west, near Gate A19.

Celebrating the centennial of the first around the world flight

Aviation history, Uncategorized, , ,

On April 6, 1924, four U.S. Army planes, each with two crewmembers, took off from what was then Sand Point Airfield in Seattle.

Their goal was to complete the first circumnavigation of the globe by air.

The four planes were Douglas World Cruisers and they were named Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans.

Due to weight restrictions, no more than 300 pounds of supplies could be loaded into each open-cockpit plane. And that meant that some otherwise standard equipment, such as parachutes and life preservers, got left behind.

Although each member of the World Flight carried a stuffed monkey as a mascot.

This monkey was named “Maggie” and flew on the Boston plane. (Image courtesy National Air and Space Museum).

The journey was far from easy. On their way around the world, the team encountered freezing temperatures, typhoons, mechanical breakdowns, crashes, and other obstacles.

But, despite losing two of the original four planes, on September 28, 1924, the Chicago, the New Orleans, plus the Boston II (a replacement) landed back at Sand Point.

The journey had taken 175 days, the crew had made 74 stops, and the team had covered about 27,550 miles.

Today, that first flight around the world is marked with a concrete pillar on a small island at the entrance of the former Naval Air Station where the planes took off.

At the top of the pillar is a large pair of bird wings. At the bottom, a plaque with the dates of the flight and the names of the crewmen and their planes.

This week Seattle is marking the 100th anniversary of the first successful round-the-world flight with celebrations at the Museum of Flight and at Magnuson Park, the site of the former Sand Point Airfield.

From September 26 to 29, more an a dozen aircraft representing decades of around-the-world record flights will be on view in the parking lot of Seattle’s Museum of Flight. Inside the museum, there will be flight lectures and films.

A full schedule for the museum events is online.

Over at Magnuson Park, there’s an afternoon of free commemoration events scheduled for September 28th.

Here’s a video about the first round-the-world flight from the National Archives.

And here’s a video about the around-the-world flight aimed at a very young audience, courtesy of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.

Swifties at San Jose Airport + Authors at MCI + Musical Astronauts at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

Events, , , , , , ,

San Jose Airport is Ready for Taylor Swift Fans

Thousands of Taylor Swift fans, known as “Swifties,” will be flying into San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC) this week on their way to Levi’s Stadium, where Swift will be performing on July 28 and 29 as part of her Eras Tour.

The airport is ready with friendship bracelets for trading and SJC goodies for sharing on Thursday, 7/27, in the Terminal B bag claim around 4 pm, while supplies last.

Summer Lit Fest at Kansas City International Airport

Here’s a great idea that would be great to see at every airport:

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) is hosting a Summer Lit Fest with a pop-up event that will feature readings and book signings by Kansas City authors.

The event will take place on Friday, July 28th, from 11 am to 2 pm, at the post-security Turn the Page KC store.

Here are the authors participating:

  • Former Kansas City Mayor Sly James will discuss and sign “Mayor Sly and the Magic Bow Tie” written by Aja James and Audrey Masoner;
  • Jim “Stinky Feet” Cosgrove, author of “Bop Bop Dinosaur” and “Sullen Sally”;
  • Chris Meggs, author of “Twas the Night Before Tipoff” and “Go Chiefs Go”;
  • Julie Snodgrass, author of “The Search for your Best Furever Friend” and “Puppies on Parade”;
  • Christle Reed – “I Can be me in KC;” and
  • Crystal Everett –  “Mommy and Mari Move It.”

Astronaut band to perform at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

Bandella, a band made up of five former astronauts and guest artists, lands for two shows at Seattle’s Museum of Flight on July 29.

Bandella includes Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who performed a solo performance video of David Bowie’s Space Oddity while floating in the space station. The four other astronaut artists include Cady Coleman, Dan Burbank, Ken Cockrell, and Steve Robinson, with Micki Pettit as the lead singer.

The concert will blend music with stories from space, plus a Q&A with the audience.

Airports (and a museum) remember Charlie Watts

Celebrities, , , ,

The Rolling Stones’ drummer, Charlie Watts, died on Tuesday and several airports, including Philadelphia International Airport and Dublin Airport – and Seattle’s Museum of Flight – went into their archives to share photos.

An opera about being stuck at the airport filmed at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

Music, ,

Like so many arts and cultural organizations, the Seattle Opera has gotten pretty darn creative with finding ways to bring its productions to the people.

The newest production is a great example of that and will be of interest to opera fans and avgeeks alike.

Courtesy Seattle Opera

For the 2020/2021 season, the Seattle Opera was planning to present a performance of “Flight.” The three-act opera was written in 1998 by composer Jonathan Dove and librettist April De Angelis and has been performed around the world.

Here’s the story of the opera:

“An omniscient air traffic controller watches over a departure lounge bustling with relentlessly cheerful flight attendants, an excitable couple on vacation, a mysterious older woman, and a diplomat and his expectant wife, all of whom must spend the night to wait out a storm. At the heart of the show is the Refugee, a character inspired by Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris for almost 18 years.”

The pandemic means that the Seattle Opera can’t perform the show live. But rather than pass on the opportunity to present it, the Seattle Opera teamed up with Seattle’s Museum of Flight and filmed the opera there.

Brilliant, right?

The live stream of the Flight runs April 23-25. And tickets are just $35.

Below you’ll find a trailer for the opera and a pre-flight/pre-show talk full of tidbits on how the project came to be.

There’s also a fun interview with Museum of Flight curator Matthew Burchette sharing some of his favorite aircraft in the museum and talking about the control tower exhibit, which plays a role in the opera.

Enjoy!

Astronauts invade Seattle

Art,

MUSEUM OF FLIHGT PReiquam_SpaceTourist

Peter Reiquam – Space Tourist

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Seattle’s Museum of Flight has placed 25 life-size, space-suited astronaut statues around town. Each statue began as a white fiberglass statue and was then transformed by a local artist into something new.

David Newman and Ruth Cieol_SpaceSquatch

SpaceSquatch Explores the Pacific Northwest – by David Newman and Ruth Cielo

The museum is encouraging locals and visitors to find astronauts around town, take selfies and post them on Instagram (tag: #astronautsonthetown) for a chance to win a pair of tickets on Alaska Airlines, good to any Alaska Airlines destination.

The statutes will be in town through mid-September, but an on-line auction for all 25 astronauts runs throughout August – in case you want an arty-astronaut for your home or office.

Here’s a link to a gallery featuring images of all statues in the Astronauts around Town project.

Scott_HappyConstellations

Happy Concstellations -by Fin’es Scott

Area 51 items at the Museum of Flight – maybe

Fun Stuff, , , ,

Area 51 warning sign

Area 51 Warning Sign –

Seattle’s Museum of Flight, which brought us an exhibit of Wonder Woman’s invisible plane just about this time last year, has cooked up another special exhibit set to open on April 1.

Due to the heavily redacted press release, it’s difficult to tell exactly what will be on display, but it appears that some never-before-seen items relating to Area 51 just might be on view.

Or not.

Museum of Flight Area 51

Style in the aisle: exhibit of vintage flight attendant fashions

Air Travel, Airlines, Aviation history, Exhibits, Museums, ,

This should be fun:

At the end of January, Seattle’s Museum of Flight will open up the clothes closet again for a fresh new exhibit of vintage flight attendant uniforms and airline memorabilia.

Museum of Flight Style in the Aisle

‘Most of the uniforms on display in the exhibit are from the flamboyant 1960s and 1970s. The collection includes creations by Parisian designer Jean Louis, Italian designer Emilio Pucci, and Hollywood designer Oleg Cassini. Trans World Airlines, Western Airlines and Braniff International represent a few of the airlines that flew the groovy garb featured in the exhibit. Rare articles also include a 1936 United Air Lines uniform, and a 1945 Northwest Airlines ensemble accented with a mink stole.”

The Museum of Flight had a similar exhibit back in 2008 that included “stewardess” uniforms ranging from “nurse togs” from the 1930s to the fab fashions from the 1960s and 1970s. So many flight attendants who visited that first exhibit Donated memorabilia and uniforms they’d saved that the museum decided to expand and bring back the display.

Museum of Flight Style in the Aisle

Style in the Aisle will be at Seattle’s Museum of Flight (a short bus or taxi-ride runs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport) from January 29 through May 30, 2011.

Check back soon for a slide-show featuring more fashions from the exhibit.

All photos courtesy the Museum of Flight

Museum Monday: Museum of Flight, Seattle

Airplanes, Aviation history, Exhibits, , , , , ,

It’s Museum Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com, so time to take a look at one of the 694 aviation museums around the country.

This week: a quick look at Seattle’s Museum of Flight, which has just kicked off a new exhibit about women in the aerospace industry: Chasing Horizons: Women in Aerospace.

Associated Women Pilots of Boeing Field (1933-1946). Museum of Flight collection.

The exhibit starts off with pioneer French aeronaut Élisabeth Thible, who became the first woman to fly in a balloon in 1784, and continues through aviation’s Golden Age of the 1920s and 1930s, World War II, and to today’s fighter pilots, aerobatic pilots, engineers, and astronauts.

Of course, there are plenty of other things to see here. The Museum of Flight is home to a vast collection of more than 150 rare aircraft and space vehicles.

There’s a control tower overlooking the very active Boeing Field and, in the Personal Courage wing, a display of 28 fighter aircraft.  The major attraction, though, is the six-story Great Gallery where there are more than 20 full-size aircraft on display, including this Lockheed M-21 Blackbird.

Lockheed Blackbird at Museum of Flight

See that little red dot to the left of the Blackbird? That’s my favorite museum artifact – an early flying car known as the Taylor Aerocar III:

The museum also has a Concorde on loan from British Airways and the first presidential jet plane, a specially built Boeing 707-120, which had this ‘high-tech’ conference area.

First Air Force One Presidential plane

Seattle’s Museum of Flight is located just south of Seattle and not far from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. So it’s a good option for an activity during a long layover. See the Museum of Flight website for more information about exhibits, special events, hours and admission.

And let us know if you have a favorite aviation museum you’d like us to feature.