C-17 Plant--Play It Again, In Long Beach

It is now known that the joint Long Beach-Huntington Beach proposal to Amazon for its second Headquarters offered up the former Boeing C-17 plant as one of three possible sites. Exactly how the city would have done this is unknown, e.g., an outright purchase from Boeing or maybe some kind of lease involving a developer. What is known is that the mayor wants to attract jobs and an aviation museum does not have a lot of paid employees. On the other hand, the American Alliance of Museums cites a study that tourists who visit museums spend 60 %  more than the average leisure tourist, e.g., on food and lodging, which translates into tax revenue for the city. And, a museum is a great way to motivate and inspire young people. Despite this, the city is not interested in studying the feasibility of a new air and space museum on the property, nor asking Boeing to sponsor a study. Long Beach may be promoting other ideas, though, e.g., a movie studio was considered for the former Boeing 717 property when it was sold a few years back. And, there are already a number of studios in the city.

Moffett Field Update

Just looking at the availability of space (land) at this location, it looks like this would be an issue for a large, new air and space museum. As part of Google's (Planetary Ventures) contract with the government to operate and manage the airfield, they naturally want to use the large hangers for internal (business) use. The area between Hwy. 101 and the field is NASA Ames and the NASA Research Park. Space (buildings) in the Research Park is being leased to various start-ups and universities. The long term plan is to continue to share this area and improve the park. In the lease proposal, Google committed to build an educational/conference/museum facility of approx. 90,000 sq. ft. Congratulations to the many people who dedicated their time to this concept, along with saving Hangar One. Unfortunately, the current plan doesn't provide enough space for a truly grand air and space museum, which is the goal discussed here and via a new Facebook website. And, sites for a large, new museum elsewhere are also disappearing at a rapid rate as developers want the space for commercial/residential use. This is the case with the Great Park in Orange County, property next to Long Beach airport and the former Naval weapons depot in Concord, CA. We are still optimistic, though.

Local Politics, the FAA and Rents

I have just returned from a trip to the Seattle/Everett area, where one museum--Historic Flight--has run into some local head winds. A county council actually turned down a proposal to expand the museum. The county argued that an expanded museum, which is located on the airport, would interfere with future hanger development and rental income would be lost. The fact that the proposed expansion would generate increased tourism in the area did not sway the council, at least for now. A related issue is the pressure put on airport management by the FAA to charge equal rents to all airport tenants, whether a non-profit or not. One other museum director has told me he may be faced with a similar situation in the future. While being able to ferry flyable airplanes to a museum located on a public airport certainly is easier than having to disassemble and truck them over a highway, an off-airport location (or a private airport) for a new museum may have to be given serious consideration.

New Facebook Web Page Established--March 2016

After meeting with a number of museum directors and getting a feel for how things are going, I believe that the goal of a large, new flight museum, in the right location, is still valid. The hardest part at the moment is getting the idea out in front of the public, civic leaders and, of course, those who can help financially. I am finding it challenging dealing with the news media, because media types do not consider the idea to be "news." In an on-going effort to reach out, a Facebook "Page" has been established. Facebook members can search: www.facebook.com/newsouthwestaviationmuseum/ Non members can still read posts and comments.

New Southwest Air and Space Museum

The Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. is a place where children and grownups alike have the opportunity to explore the wonders of flight. Aircraft and spacecraft of all kinds are on display, along with their histories. Theaters and various audio-visual displays further bring the story of flight to life. The museum is a major tourist destination. In fact, it is the most visited of all the Smithsonian museums, drawing over 8.9 million visitors in 2011 between its Capitol Mall location and its satellite location at Washington Dulles Airport. Contributing factors are its proximity to mass transit and free admission.

Other aviation museums are located across the country. A few are well funded and have historic collections housed in acceptable facilities, a fine example being the National Museum of the Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. However, most are small operations, housing their collections in old facilities or worse, outdoors, where they are at the mercy of the weather. Many of these museums are located on small airports, away from any major city. As a result, visitors are not attracted to them as a destination.

Recognizing the rich aerospace history of the Southwest, and now, the dawn of private spaceflight, I believe the time is right to consider a sizable, new, high caliber museum in this part of the country. The vision of the museum would be to preserve the legacy of aviation, to stimulate an interest in aerospace as a profession for young people, and to allow those who visit the museum to experience the wonders of flight. Due to the scarcity of funds and the limited availability of historic aircraft, I propose that three areas be considered for a single, final site. The best suited areas, I believe, are: the San Francisco Bay area, the Los Angeles/Orange County area and Las Vegas. All three are major tourist draws, with the first two having the additional advantage of large permanent populations (Phoenix was not considered because the number of visitors is less than half that of Las Vegas, nor Tucson, which already has several fine air and space museums). Costs, of course, would be considerable. Space on a former military base may be one way to ease the land acquisition/lease costs. Even better, would be a location near an active airport allowing visitors to view aircraft in flight from an observation area. Then, there is the cost of constructing new facilities or renovating older, existing facilities. Building the aircraft collection itself would be ongoing, and require considerable luck. A private museum also would not have the benefit of its daily operating costs being subsidized by the Federal Government.

Despite these costs and challenges, I have learned to never underestimate the generosity of people for a worthwhile cause, especially one that captures the imagination of the public. Consequently, an abbreviated version of this letter has been forwarded to local newspapers, along with a reference to this blog. This blog is intended to start an ongoing discussion on the subject. Although many other pilots share the dream of a new museum, the involvement of non-pilots is critical, and the pilot population needs to reach out to them.