national museum of commercial aviation

I visited on a Thursday and I was the only visitor. Richard showed me around and it was so interesting! The museum is run mostly by volunteers and it really deserves more attention. It is rather small but has many interesting exhibits which illustrate aviation history, all kind of artefacts and some very impressive simulators and other training devices (see photos).You can do it in 1 hour, it cost you 5$ and it is located immediately at the airport.

My husband came across this on groupon while on our anniversary vacation. It was $5 for adult admission. The staff is extremely knowledgeable about the airlines. It was incredible! Ray was amazing!!! You have to come and see this place. They are building a new facility and I am sure it will blow this one out the water!!!!

This place is small but packed full of really great stuff! They had former crew uniforms and pretty much anything you could have found on pretty much any airline that has been in existance (mainly in the US)! One of my favorite displays was all sorts of aviation related toys, dating back to the 30's! A JFK "control tower", a Barbie "Friend Ship" with a flight attendant serving set, my 10 year old son literally sat for an hour just looking at the coolness of this scale size airplane terminal and airport layout. There were lots of boards with really cool information, such as how past advertising worked (my fave was the "Air Strip" meaning it showed how flight attendants would strip off different parts of their uniform for different purposes - nothing racy about it except the title actually. It even included a plastic helmet so their hairdo wouldn't get messed up with the wind from the engines while boarding!) Another room had a couple computers with flight simulator software - my kids spent at least an hour there and the people who work there were so wonderful to help them. They have such a love for the industry- the two people I spoke with were former airline employees (in fact, one had her former TWA Valentino uniform on display!). They were incredibly knowledgable, I loved listening to them. I am also an airline employee and can't believe how much I learned! There is a working tug and a cockpit from a plane that used to be Ray CHarles' tour jet! There is a library with any kind of book, magazine, literature you can imagine about the industry. There was a DVD playing about the process of salvaging/scrapping aircraft that are no longer being used, which I found fascinating. For kids, there is a play room that they could spend hours in, all kinds of airplane toys, even a few fighter jacket/uniforms to play with. And they have so much more stuff, they are waiting for funding to build a larger location nearby. I can't wait to see it, just hearing about some of the stuff in storage is so exciting. They received stuff from the Smithsonian, as well! They've already secured some planes and a tug for display once it's open. They found some other planes, but the money to transport them here is unreal so I'm hoping something works out for them. If I had the money, I would most certainly donate to their cause, I think it's great. There are lots of aviation musuems, but this is the only one dedicated to airlines, but the people who run it have a great love and knowledge of aviation in general as well. I hope I haven't forgotten anything, I just don't know how to express what a great little gem this place is. It is small and you'd miss it if you didn't know it was there...make sure you call for directions cuz it's easy to miss. it's not far from the airport, 10 minutes max, so even if you're in town for the day, it wouldn't be too far out of your way. My kids loved it and were talking about it all night when they saw their dad later on. And it's very inexpensive - $4 for adults, I think? Totally worth it. However, any extra donation would be greatly appreciated, I'm sure. I highly recommend it for any airline lover - you'll learn a lot and see some really cool stuff. Please talk with Richard and Dottie if you can - they are so great, helpful, nice, have boundless information, and lots of great stories to tell about things in the museum. You can tell all the time, love, and effort people have put into this place. I so much enjoyed my time there and look forward to its expansion - hopefully soon!