Film

In a 50-seat theater (where guests can come and go as they please), the 23-minute film is continuously playing. The film contains the following scenes:

• The centuries-old desire to fly like the birds found in myths like Icarus & Helios (Greek), Mercury (Roman), and magic carpets (Arabian)

• The first flying contraptions such as balloons (China) and aerial helixes (Leonardo da Vinci in Italy)

• Dirigibles (first designed by Jesuit/Catholic priests as early as 1670) and hot air balloons (first demonstrated in 1783)

• The Wright Brothers' first flight in 1903

• Helicopters (the first flights occurred in 1906)

• Amelia Earhart's transatlantic flight on May 20, 1932

• The use of airplanes in World Wars I and II

• The growth of commercial airlines (starting as early as 1914), especially following World War II

• The discovery of rockets and the first satellite launch into space (Sputnik in 1957)

• The passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (U.S.A.) meant than an airline no longer had to seek regulatory approval to serve a route

• Discussion of the future of air travel

Aviation Memorabilia

In this area of the attraction, see vintage airline tickets, advertisements, and toys. Guests can also view models of some of the Boeing airplane models, including the B & W Sea Plane (Model 1).

Airport Design Exhibits

In the original pavilion, there are several exhibits that detail how an airport is designed. The first is Runway Direction that discusses how wind speeds collected over a 1-year period for the proposed location of an airport are summarized in what is called a ‘windrose.’ Each number in the windrose represents the percentage of winds of a particular direction and speed that were found in that year’s worth of wind data. For example in the diagram, the 7.4 indicates 7.4% of the winds were in the N direction at less than 25 kilometers per hour [kmph] (less than 15.5 mph). The goal with runway design is to maximize the wind coverage. As the green box indicates in the diagram, a North-South runway would cover the greatest percentage of wind (97.4% of wind)--all winds less than 25 kmph as well as all winds in the following directions: NNW, N, NNE, SSW, S, SSE. In general, 95% wind coverage is generally accepted as the threshold for having sufficient coverage. If one runway is insufficient to meet 95%, then a second runway (in a different direction that covers additional winds) will be most likely deemed necessary.

Other Airport Design exhibits include the Runway Layout (including whether parallel runways are used to increase capacity). Runway Length (taking into account elevation, temperature, and types of aircraft), and Determining the Number of Airline Gates (based on times needed for disembarking, cleaning/refueling, and boarding).