Thoughts & Ramblings: Smithsonian Air & Space Museum

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport outside Washington D.C. opened in December 2003. Since then it has been on my short list of must-see destinations. Being in and/or near D.C. every year, you’d think we would have found a way to knock this off this list. Unfortunately, there has never been enough time in our schedule.

This year, we made the museum a priority. Since we were scheduled to arrive in D.C. early in the morning, we planned to spend a few hours touring the museum prior to driving to Richmond.

Andrew wanted to ride the Metro subway, so we considered doing that first. After some further thought, we knew we might not make it to the museum once we got downtown.

We turned around and headed back to Dulles. The GPS was a great help, but it wasn’t flawless. At one point, the GPS specified the route, but in reality, there were two options – toll road and non-toll road. It wasn’t clear which to choose. We chose to go on the non-toll road. This turned out to be the wrong choice. Our road led straight to the airport and was specifically for passengers and employees. The toll road was adjacent to us, but there were no exits from this section of the highway to the other. As we drove along and the exit for the museum approached on the toll road, we pondered our predicament. To our surprise, we spotted a crossover coming up on the right. We zipped off the non-toll road and entered the toll road, then dove off the exit ramp, where we did have to pay a toll. Wow, what good luck. As it turned out, we should have taken the “A” ramp rather than the “B” ramp. We were heading away from the museum. DOH! After a quick U-Turn, we were back on track.

Another few miles later, we turned off onto Sully Road, then Air and Space Museum Parkway. We drove past the approach end of Dulles’ RW 11R. We pulled up to the main gate and found that the museum has no fee, but it does cost $15 to park in the lot. I found a parking spot near the door and Andrew jumped out of the car and quickly got busy playing in the snow. From the outside, the control tower dominated the scene.

Inside, the initial view was limited due to the architecture. The main visual attraction is a Space Shuttle with an American flag draped behind. We talked to guest relations for a few minutes, picked up a map, then began our exploration. The museum layout includes planes on the ground, hanging low, and hanging high above in a large, 300 yard long hangar.

We started the tour on an elevated walkway that put us at the low hanging level; perfect for close-up views and the hanging aircraft and cockpit views of the ground level displays. To the left was the commercial aircraft, and World War II aircraft were on the right. The coolest view from the walkway was the nose view of the B-29 “Enola Gay”. We could see right into the cockpit though the dozens of windows.

At the end of the walkway, we descended the steps and entered the commercial aircraft area. As we walked past the Air France Concorde, I described to Andrew the crash in Paris that was a factor in the eventual termination of all Concorde flights. The original Boeing 707 was a familiar sight, previously seen parked at Boeing Field in Seattle.

We continued our tour along the rear elevated walkway. I was excited to see my favorite old fighter jet – the F-86 Sabre – displayed in the Korean and Vietnam era fighters section. Back on the floor, Andrew and I spent quite some time watching the internal workings of a split, animated rotary engine.

By this time, we couldn’t ignore our growling stomachs any longer. The museum has a McDonalds upstairs near gift shop, so we stopped in for a quick bite.

After lunch, we headed back downstairs, ironically, to go to the control tower. We waited in line for the next elevator while Susan called someone and disappeared. Andrew and I caught the next elevator and rode to the 7th floor. From there, we had a great 360 degree view of Dulles airport and the surrounding countryside. Dulles Ground Control was audible and planes flew right past the tower on their way to RW 11R. Then we rode down to the 6th floor, where there’s an air traffic control simulation of Newark airport.

Back in the museum, we pinged Susan while looking at the SR-71 “Blackbird” and the space displays. Eventually Susan found us beside the full size mockup of the Space Shuttle “Enterprise”. While looking at it, I noticed that there was no mock up of the hydraulic systems in the wheel wells. This made me wonder if the real shuttle has systems to retract the landing gear. Once the gear is down, it has no need to come back up until it returns to the Vehicle Assembly Building, so why add the extra weight and complexity?

Overall, I was truly impressed by the quantity, quality, and variety of the displays. Being from Seattle, I couldn’t help be compare it to the Museum of Flight. I think the Museum of Flight’s Personal Courage Wing does a better job immersing you into the era of the aircraft. I also compared it to the primary A&S museum in D.C., which has one-of-a-kind displays that can be seen nowhere else.