GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
Seattle, One of the Great Centers of Aviation
Seattle of course is one of the great centers of aviation and to the credit of Boeing who helped sponsor both the Museum of Flight and the Future Flight exhibition at Everett.
The Museum of Flight is the west coast home for Concorde, a British Airways example on display. But distinguished as it is it is only one of more than 150 aircraft dating from the beginning of aviation which the collection owns. There is a replica of the Leonardo da Vinci Ornithopter plus the real and original Eisenhower Air Force One 707 and the prototypes of the 737 and 747. An Apollo Command Module, a Lunar Roving Vehicle mockup, an original Soviet Sputnik and other space artifacts are part of the astro exhibition. You can sit in the cockpit of a Mach 3 Blackbird spy plane and a F/A-18 Hornet fighter. The Museum has a special interactive youth area in which visitors can learn basic concepts of aerodynamics, flight instrumentation, propulsion and aircraft construction through hands-on activities, as well as sit in actual aircraft and experiment with hang glider and hot-air balloon simulators, among other activities. New is the actual Red Barn, the workshop where Bill Boeing built his first aircraft in 1909 part of a presentation of the first two decades of the Boeing company.
At Paine Field, Everett (also called Snohomish County Airfield to confuse even more) not far from the Future Flight exhibition, is the Museum of Flight restoration facility with more than three dozen aircraft being painstakingly returned to their original state. This is also open to the public. Amongst the aircraft being readied for display is this Comet 4C.
The Future of Flight center itself opened at the end of 2005 and is an amazing tribute to man's aviation progress. At the end of your day you can sit in the roof top cafeteria and watch aircraft that will be used all over the world often making their maiden flight. It is now part of a package with the Boeing factory tour. The factory itself, the world's largest industrial building, is being remodeled for the 787 and continues as the home of the 747, 767 and 777. Tours continue even as the 787 comes together. The new building is seen here in the right foreground with the massive Boeing wide body seen in the distance across the Paine Field runway. There is a Hilton Garden Inn next door to the Future of Flight building.
Whilst the Future of Aviation Center is primarily designed for children and young people, adults will find it just as interesting. There is an aircraft design zone where you can plan your own commercial jet. The X-J5 flight simulator, a multi-passenger machine flying with the world's best pilots at supersonic speeds. You can learn about the on board unseen systems that make aircraft work including flight controls, avionics, navigation and hydraulics. Perhaps one of the most interesting of all is a 3D experience which shows how a future aircraft will be manufactured.
Whilst you can look into what is to come with a video of the 787 and a cabin mock up, the all glass splendidly laid out hall includes descriptions of some great aircraft of the past including the Comet and Vickers Viscount. Presently CFN have an engine and Rolls-Royce have been quick to promise their own cutaway. Airbus too in the future will be represented. You can sit in the Boeing Connexion Theater and see how far commercial jet transport has come in the last 50 years.
http://www.futureofflight.org http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/tours http://www.museumofflight.org
http://www.seeseattle.org
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