Summary: Welcome to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an incredible collection of aviation and space artifacts, the likes of which you will not fine anywhere else. I’m David Allen, and I’m about to take you into the cockpit … of Other People’s Airplanes. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport is the companion facility to the Museum on the National Mall. The building opened in December, 2003, and provides enough space for the Smithsonian to display the thousands of aviation and space artifacts that cannot be exhibited on the National Mall. The two sites together showcase the largest collection of aviation and space artifacts in the world. Today is the eighth annual Become a Pilot Family Day and Aviation Display. During the annual event, Dulles International welcomes general aviation, military, and government traffic into the airport to be part of the event and park their airplanes on the ramp outside the museum! Guests visiting the museum will be able to talk to pilots and learn what it takes to become a pilot from experienced aviators. The last time I visited Udvar-Hazy, several years ago, the museum had about 120 aircraft on display. Today, they have about 170 aircraft on display. And yes, that is to say nothing of the hundreds of space artifacts and thousands of other aviation artifacts throughout the facility. While they have not reached their maximum capacity of about 220 aircraft on display, there’s still plenty to see. So come on in! While attending this year’s event, I was joined by Damon Favor of The Pursuit of Wings podcast. His assistance is always a huge help. Damon and I joined Milford Shirley of Flight Time Radio for a 2-hour special remote broadcast of their show. We set up in front the Junkers Ju 52 and had an incredible time chatting with some of the guests about the event. A huge thanks goes out to Sennheiser for sponsoring this trip. I am also super excited to announce that I have been asked to be an ambassador for Sennheiser’s Live Your Dream program. Get your applications in now. You could win a $1,500 flight training scholarship!
