Hey gang,

Just had the awesome opportunity to visit the Museum of Flight in Seattle today. If you are ever in the area, it is a must see spot. Simply the two best highlights are walking through the cabin of a retired BA Concorde (G-BOAG) and the Air Force One that Nixon took on his historic visit to Communist China.

All I can keep saying is wow. Think about it, Air Force One and Concorde in one day.

Was surprised about how small the cabin of the Concorde is 2x2 seating and tiny windows. Her cockpit is amazing, long narrow and unbelievably complex. The main door to the air craft was signed by the flight crew and passengers of her last flight. Also cool was how high up she sits atop her landing gear. COOL.

And as a political junkie, it was amazing being on a retired AF 1. Man, if those walls could talk! It was neat seeing a completely modified galley to prepare meals from scratch and the bunks that dropped from what would otherwise be overhead bins. And having a look at the lav that was modified for then First Lady Kennedy standards was cool too.

The rest of the museum was great too, but the tour of the two aircraft was great, and seeing the very first 747 was neat. I only wish she was kept a bit cleaner, she looked old and tired.

Happy flying.

I saw it too, but was dissapointed in such little Airline stuff, a good majority of it was Military. As for the Air Force one, that was ok, the Concorde was cool, now I just wish they would open up the 732, the AA 727, and do something with the 741.

I went for visit in August, and thought it was a very interesting museum. I did enjoy the Concorde interior, whilst I was standing in the line up to get into it (underneath the fuselage and engine pods) I had a thought about the one that went down after take-off from Paris. It is an impressive machine.
AF-1 was also interesting too, especially the huge banks of radio equipment to provide the President with a phone line, that apparently hardly ever worked properly, he frequently had to resort to a scrambled radio link! I bet it is very different now.

I was up in SEA a few weeks ago, and went to the SEA meuseum of flight. It was awsome. I was very surprised at how small the cabin was in the Concorde. Seriously, I felt like I was in a CRJ. The week I was up there, they had an airline show going on, so I guess I was lucky.

I would HIGHLY suggest SEA visitors go to the museum. I was in SEA for just about 8 hours on a Saturday (had to do business for 30 minutes, and the rest of the time I had to my self.) I used public transportation which dropped me off right at the museum and took me back to the airport.

I plan to return to the museum some time this winter.

Not overly interested in being in the AA 727, not much seemingly special about that. Although it was neat to stand under her nose and reach up and touch it. Never realised how close the the 727 was to the ground.

Agreed though, they should open up the 737, it'd be neat to see what the interior looks like now.

Furthermore, the should open up the 741! Now that would be awesome.

I was miffed at the clear Boeing bias the museum had...true, its in Seattle, which is blatant Boeing country but still Airbus could at least be mentioned somewheres in the exhibits, which its not...

Greg

USAFHummer, considering it is at BOEING field, in the old BOEING building, they clearly have some type of agreement with Boeing. It would be kind of rediculous if Boeing showed off Airbus products, which is obviously a major competitor with Boeing. It's like NW showing an SQ cabin display at it's hub in MSP.

I was out there last Dec,when the Concorde was in front of the buliding. It sure smelled nice inside! I too wish they'de open up the 727,737 and 747.
Maybe when they complete the bulding they'll move them inside.

"I was miffed at the clear Boeing bias the museum had...true, its in Seattle, which is blatant Boeing country but still Airbus could at least be mentioned somewheres in the exhibits, which its not..."

USAFHummer,
Being it's Boeing, it is probably easier to get Boeing "stuff" to display. I'm sure some day when a piece of Airbus equipment retires, and is donated, they will jump at the chance to add it to the display. A Comet, or Caravlle would be nice as well.

I used to work at the museum and can provide a few insights. First off, the museum would love to open up the 741, 722 and 731. Right now the focus is on the restoration of the Comet and that should open up eventually. The 741 will not be opened up anytime soon because it has a completely gutted interior. If you went inside you would just be in an aluminum can. There is a small section that was partially restored, but it is far far from being complete. Don't expect it to open up anytime soon unless a huge grant of money comes. It is estimated to take about 2 million dollars. I haven't heard of them opening up the Nasa 737, personally I have no idea what is inside of it and only know the generic facts that I had to know about it. I worked in the department that was responsible for maintaining the airpark open for the public viewing. The airpark will turn into a hanger of sorts and be fully enclosed. Those planes need to be preserved better, and the Concorde will not last at all unless it is protected more from the elements.

There are a lot of elements that are not on display, but are in the works. The brand new Personal Courage Wing opened up last June and it is really good and features planes from WWI and WWII with an emphasis on the feeling of living through the wars. Stop by and it is amazing along with the great gallery, red barn (Boeing's original building back in the early 1900s, and the of course the airpark. Also some good spotting could be done in the area because BFI gets an interesting mix of stuff including every 737 that Boeing makes because the delivery center is just a couple blocks north. Oh and the funniest thing ever was last summer when Frontier took delivery of a brand new Airbus in the parking lot. It was so funny to see an airbus delivery in the land of Boeing.

As for the Boeing emphasis. It has more to do with where the planes come from. The Museum of Flight was originally created by huge contributions from Boeing, but it is no longer directly tied to them. The reason why most of our planes are from Boeing is that they are the ones that donate them. The museum also has a lot of military planes because the armed forces are eager to donate such outdated planes in a move to promote the armed forces. If Airbus wanted to donate and airplane, the museum would happily accept it and be proud to show it off. The latest project is the Comet 4. If you are ever up in Everett by Paine Field (747,767,777 production) stop by the restoration center. It is an awesome place and the volunteers there know absolutely everything and it is free. Of course donations are much appreciated because revenue from admissions does not go to pay for that stuff. It is all done by volunteers and donations.

The VC137 (970) at the Museum of Flight is not the one that took Nixon to China. That aircraft (27000) is at the Reagan Library in California.

970 may well have dragged Nixons staff to China, but he took 27000. 970 is really more notable for taking Eisenhower to the USSR with recon cameras in the belly and taking Kissinger to Paris for his secret talks with the North Vietnamese.

FYI: The aircraft (26000) was most closely associated with Kennedy is at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Oh.

[Edited 2004-11-12 16:05:43]

The VC137 is the one that took VP Johnson to Dallas when JFK was shot. The Caravelle @ PAE will eventually be transported by ground to BFI when it's done (tail and wings removed of course) .

Speaking of the Reagan Library's 707,has anyone checked out the website as how it will look when completed ? When I was there in July,it was barely visible along with 'Marine One' The engines and tail were in a fenced-off area in the parking lot.

When it is done it will look incredible,covered up and everything!

I was also at the Museum in late August, on the same day I had taken the Boeing Everett Plant tour, so it was an extrordinary day as to aircraft. I spent over 3 hours at the museum complex and found it to be an excellent experience. I had visited the Museum before in July 1995, and it is much better, especially with the new Personal Courage Wing (WWI/II). I had never been on a Concorde before, although have seen some close up at JFK (BA terminal), and found it interesting. I do agree that it feels like a regional 'Jungle Jet' inside. As a political junkie, I also liked the visit into the AF-1, especially as to it being connected with JF Kennedy and Johnson (this unit was used by then VP Johnson from DC to Dallas the day Kennedy was assinated, but he returned, with JFK's body and took the oath of President on the a/c that is in Dayton, that I would like to see).
I would also recommend that one drive around King County/Boeing field as there are other interesting things to see, including new 737/757's which are delivered there. It's wierd to see 737's with familiar (Southwest) and unfamiliar tails (Ryanair, Korea Air and many others) in the USA. Saw a Korea Air 737 take off during my visit at the museum. In my drive around, saw a DC-8 with the new DHL colors - looked sharp and a DC-3 in old United livery among other aircarft.
I would highly recommend a visit it you have the time in the Seattle area. Just make sure you allocate the time needed. There is a website for this museum for more info. I would also like to point out that one can by a book of tickets good for a week (?) for about $39 which contains one ticket to each the Museum of Flight, the Space Needle, the Zoo, the Aquarium, an one hour Seattle inner harbor boat tour and the Science museum included.

Also,if you drive around PAE , you can drive up by Goodrich,I believe. This is where they install winglets on 737's . Also , I saw a MD11 that was destined for Finnair,also I saw a National 757.

Also,there is an aviation college there , and they have a couple white 727-100's parked up on a hill - minus engines.

Definitely a great museum regardless of slant. To sit in the SR 71 cockpit was most interesting-oh the stories it could tell. I am not sure of the plane but to look in the interior of a 1930s passenger plane in the main hall took me a good 15 minutes of thinking what it all must have been like to travel then.

For me it was ghostly when I walked up to and into BOAG. I flew on her on the last flight to Toronto and at that time we were allowed unrestricted access to wander around the plane after we landed. It crackled and made noises, you could feel the heat coming off it-it was alive. At the museum it was "not alive".

Given the museum's location, anyone with a few hours on the ground should go. The only other museum I can think of-while definitely military- that is urban like that that had a similar quality collection is the RAF museum in London.

No no, you missed the point...Im not saying that there should be Airbus displays, but even in the readings about the displays which explain everything, there is no mention of the word "Airbus"...I understand that it is going to be heavily Boeing-biased, but would it kill them to at least mention Airbus instead of pretending like they dont exist...

Greg

USAFHummer- What would you like them to say? This is a 747 in front of you, Airbus makes nothing like it?