museum of flying

perfect in town museum that takes a half hour to see. located right on the edge of santa monica airport, easy parking and walking distance from a couple nice restaurants.

On a whim, my younger son and I decided to visit the Museum of Flying in July, 2014 and I am really glad we stopped in. The museum is small - you can cover it in a two to three hours, depending upon how much time you spend talking to the docents. The exhibits are generally well maintained and the docents really like talking to children about flying. My son and I spent about two hours there checking out the exhibits, climbing into some of the open cockpits (where allowed!) and chatting with the docents. Of course, there is the requisite visit to the gift store which is well stocked with airplane "stuff".I spent a good bit of time talking with the docents who were all retired military and/or civilian pilots. Since my Father is a retired airline pilot and former SAC pilot we found a lot to chat about!A few notes for your visit:1. Allot at least an hour and make sure to bring a camera. They have static exhibits outside by the parking lot as well as inside.2. As mentioned, take your time and talk with the docents. They're a wealth of information and stories.3. Restroom facilities are clean.4. Parking can be a bit of a trick as it's a small lot. We arrived around 10:30 AM and found a place without issue. However, when we left around 12:30 PM the place was at capacity.Overall, this is a well-sized and appointed museum. It's just large enough and has enough exhibits to keep young children interested and not tire them out completely. We really enjoyed it and will visit again. I highly recommend this museum if you're into planes.I would love to bring my Father here but, sadly, he's not able to travel any longer so I sent him a bunch of pictures of the place.

For kids this place is perfect. It is small and interactive. We came when it was free with open house but it is like an enclosed warehouse with planes all over with planes that you can sit in like the FED EX cock pit, a flight simulator etc. The grounds is nice too with vintage planes outside that you can get close to.

The Museum of Flying is easy to find and to get to by car. It's in Santa Monica close to the airport and also reasonably close to LAX. It's also close to the site where many of the Douglass planes were built. It has a small but interesting collection and is well worth a visit.

Decided to visit the museum after Groupon offered a discount on tickets. Figured "Why Not?" Overall it was an enjoyable experience. You wont need more than an hour to see the entire place. We went on a Saturday afternoon in July and there were maybe 6 other people there as well? The exhibits were ok, but a lot of them were replications and movie props. Cool if you arent in the movie biz i suppose. You do get to sit in a test cockpit and a couple airplane cockpit's, one from a Fed Ex plane. It's fun to push the buttons (even at 34yrs old) and more especially for boys! They feed the Air Traffic Control radio from Santa Monica airport into the Fed Ex cockpit so it's fun to have the "live" experience. Be sure to ask the docents for information, we certainly got an education we wouldnt have seen just looking around and reading signage.Good for a non-rush lazy afternoon of doing something light and educational. My boyfriend has never flown commercially, so he got to sit in some real airplane seats they had scattered around the museum. Good for him to see what it will be like soon enough! Be sure to grab a free "I heart" sticker on your way out!

I love this place. It has lots of planes for its size. It also has a flight simulator that includes motion as well as visual, so you can feel what it might be like to do a roll, or spin. There is a store that you can purchase small planes and models. Douglas Aircraft was located here and there are many exhibits that document this history. The museum is located on the Santa Monica Airport property which was once Douglas Aircraft Property. There is a nice restaurant within easy walking distance. The museum has several events a year, check their calendar for details.

What was here was very nice but it was much smaller than I expected. The staff were brimming with information and were very helpful. It has a flight simulator for an extra cost with a choice of type of plane. Worth a visit if you are in the area but not worth a long drive to as we did.

Our son enjoys going here and when he was small liked to watch the take off and landings from the public bleachers up at the airport. I recommend a packing a lunch and making a day of it. There's also a little public park for little ones to run around in.

The M of F is very small, you will learn about early aviation history about Santa Monica and they have many great events there.

Very hands-on for kids and adults, both. Wonderful old planes and a lot of history, easily available and understood.

We visited the Museum of Flying yesterday and were pleasantly pleased. The permanent collection is small yet interesting. It includes a replica of the Wright Flyer, and the nose section of a Boeing 727 where one can sit at the controls.The current temporary exhibition is an international traveling exhibition called "Now Boarding, Fentress Airports + The Architecture of Flight." It explores the past, present and future of airport design, including the modernized Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. now boarding.org We thought we would spend an hour or so at the museum, but ended up staying over three hours. There's a small screening room that shows films and documentaries.

I live near here and decided to check this out with my husband one day. Its small but full of history and an amazing amount of planes in a small spot. My favorite thing was sitting in the cockpit of the Fed Ex plane, that was cool. My husband is the one much more interested in this sort of thing, so he liked it a lot more than me, but there's enough to keep someone who isn't as interested occupied!

Firstly - the address is wrong - it is actually on Airport Ave opposite the entrance to Santa Monica Airport. I took my 5yo son there who loves all things aviation and he loved it. We went on a Thursday and it was very quiet which was great. One of the ladies spent nearly an hour with my son in the cockpit of the nose section there showing him everything and answering all his questions. If you are in the LA area this museum should definitely be on the list of things to do.

This is a perfect day trip for a family. It's located at the working Santa Monica Airport and there are picnic tables nearby and a littlle resto called Spitfire Grill and then you can go see the airplanes taking off and landing. The museum was lovingly designed by a contractor who loves to fly and he used part of an old FedEx plane nose and integrated it into the design and you can go inside it! Fun! Kids and adults will be happy with this place that is big enough to have lots of cool stuff but bite sized enough to not be exhausting.

Visited with grandson and had a very nice time. Compared to other Flying museums this is small and simple. It is however a nice hour or so visit especially with children. The large one at Boeing Field in Seattle is much more encyclopedic but this small local facility is quite satisfying in its class.