I wanted a little quality time with my son so I asked him if he wanted to check out the aircraft at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. He was game, but was even more excited when I told him it was located on an island and we’d have to drive across a bridge to get there. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the museum and took our time reading about the different Japanese planes. I thought the exhibit and its story of one of the Japanese Zeros that crash landed on the island of Niihau was especially interesting.
We had complimentary passes to the museum, but purchased a ticket for the flight simulator. Initially I thought it was like an amusement park ride, but I learned it was actually a state-of-the-art 360-degree flight simulator that you, the pilot, has total control over. My son was a little apprehensive and told the simulator operator that he didn’t want to flip upside down. The operator was great at giving my son all the instructions he needed to have a fun, but cautious ride.
After the simulator, we headed to the Raytheon Pavilion for the Above and Beyond exhibit presented by Boeing. This interactive exhibit was my favorite and the highlight was designing and flying our own fighter jets. Although I finished last in the race, we both had a very fun afternoon together. Mission accomplished.
Inside Hangar 37.
You must be at least 48 inches to ride solo.
There are two screens outside so that you can see inside the simulator and also see what the pilots are seeing.
Designing the jet looked so fun I had to do one myself.
But flying the jet was definitely harder than it looked!
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