Carolinas Aviation Museum

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Nathan and I had a couple hours to kill before our flight back from Charlotte.  We stopped by the Carolinas Aviation Museum.

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The requisite Wright Flyer on display at the entrance.

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An old biplane.

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A DC-3 in all its glory.

IMG_6816Some fighter jets.

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A small flying boat.

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The Airbus A320-214 (tail number N106US) that was made famous when it crash landed in the Hudson River a few years ago as US Air Flight 1549.  All of the passengers and crew amazingly survived.

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Some artifacts recovered from the plane.

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The culprit for bringing the plane down.

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Looking at the plane from the nose.  Much of the visible damage done to the fuselage was actually from ferries and other boats bumping up against the airplane after it had landed in the water.

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Some significant portions of the aircraft were broken off in the water landing and afterward during the rescue and recovery.
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The APU that helped save the flight was ripped off of the main part of the aircraft upon impact.

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The underbelly of the plane was pretty beat up from hitting the water.

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It is a pretty impressive display!

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Nathan sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet.

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PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS! Itty-bitty living space!

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I took a turn in the pilots seat.

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Inside an old 727 (I think?) cockpit.

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An old aerial gas tanker has ended its days as a small display.

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Looking forward into the cockpit.

 

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A few of the planes and other aircraft that the museum has stored outside next to the active runway at the airport.