PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM TO RECEIVE 787 DREAMLINER FROM THE BOEING COMPANY

Plane Scheduled to Arrive in Tucson on Thursday, March 26

Tucson, March 25, 2015 –The Pima Air & Space Museum announced today it will join the ranks of the very few with the donation of an original flight test 787 Dreamliner from The Boeing Company into its expanding world renowned collection.

The 787 Dreamliner, known as ZA002, will arrive today at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and then be towed to nearby Pima Air & Space Museum. A formal induction ceremony and opening of public static display will be announced at a later date. News media should contact the museum on status of plane’s arrival.

“This is an extremely exciting and monumental time for the museum, the Tucson community and Arizona in general,” said Scott Marchand, Executive Director of the Pima Air & Space Museum. “We are honored to be selected by The Boeing Company to be the custodian of such a significant historic next generation aircraft and to be able to display it to the public from the USA and from around the world.”

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an all-new family of midsize airplanes that deliver new efficiencies, exceptional environmental performance and passenger pleasing features. Advances in engines, aerodynamics, airplane systems and materials, including airframe made mostly of carbon-fiber composites, make the 787 family 20 to 30 percent more fuel efficient than the airplanes it replaces, with an equivalent reduction in emissions.

“Boeing is proud of our long-standing relationship with the Pima Air & Space Museum, and donating the second 787 Dreamliner begins another chapter in our partnership,” said Boeing Vice President of Attack Helicopter Programs and Senior Mesa Site Executive, Kim Smith. “We’re thrilled to share this 787 with students, aviation enthusiasts and visitors from Arizona and around the world.”

Dreamliner Number 2

This particular 787, ZA002, is the second Boeing 787-8 to be produced. The airplane flew for the first time on December 22, 2009, joining what would become a six-airplane flight test and certification program for the 787- 8. The primary focus of ZA002 was testing systems performance.

The Pima Air & Space Museum

The Pima Air & Space Museum is one of the largest aviation museums in the world, and the largest nongovernment funded aviation museum in the United States. The museum maintains a collection of more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft from around the globe—including many rare and one-of-a-kind—and more than 125,000 artifacts. Exhibits at the museum include some of the world’s greatest aviation heritage, including military, commercial and civil aviation. Among them are the SR-71 Blackbird—the world’s fastest plane, a B-29 Superfortress—the highest flying and fastest WWII bomber, and a rare World War II German V-1 "buzz bomb." The museum has five large hangars totaling more than 177,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space. Pima Air & Space maintains its own aircraft restoration center, and also offers exclusive tours of the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), also known as the "Bone Yard" (across from the museum at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base).

The Pima Air & Space Museum is located at 6000 E. Valencia Road, Tucson, Exit 267 off Interstate 10. The museum is open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with last admission at 4 p.m. Admission is $15.50 ($12.25 for Pima County Residents) for adults, $12.75 for seniors 62 and older and active military, $9.00 for youth 7-12, and free for children under 6. For general museum information, please call 520- 574-0462 or visit www.pimaair.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mary E Emich
Director of Marketing, Sales and Visitor Services
Arizona Aerospace Foundation
6000 East Valencia Rd
Tucson, AZ  85756
Phone 520 574-0462
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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REGISTER NOW FOR PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM'S 2014 GREAT PAPER AIRPLANE FLY-OFF

REGISTER NOW FOR PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM’S 2014 GREAT PAPER AIRPLANE FLY-OFF NEW THIS YEAR:

• NEW PRIZES FOR THE WINNERS: including A FLIGHT IN A PRIVATE AIRPLANE!
• INCREASED NUMBER OF CONTESTANTS, WITH A MINIMUM OF 2 TOSSES PER CONTESTANT
• EXPANDED DAY OF FUN
• SPECIAL EDUCATOR WEBPAGE
• FAMILY COMPETITION

Tucson—Feb. 8, 2014  Registration is underway for the Pima Air & Space Museum’s 3rd Annual Great Paper Airplane Fly-Off scheduled for Feb. 8, 2014 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). NEW this year will be new prizes, including a 30-minute “Introductory Flight” from Double Eagle Aviation and an iPad with flight-simulator-app; day-long fun; 75% more contestants, an Educator webpage and the Family Fun Fly-off.
In the main event, the Great Paper Airplane Fly-off, children, aged 6-14, fold and fly a paper airplane. The competition will be divided into three age brackets: 6-8, 9-11 and 12-14 years old, with each bracket being judged on flight distance. Each contestant will toss their airplane in at least two heats. The winner of each age bracket will be awarded an iPad with an aviation simulation app, a $200 Double-Eagle Aviation 30-minute “Introductory Flight” for two, and a Great Paper Airplane Project flight jacket, plus the winner’s name will be placed on the perpetual trophy on display in the Great Paper Airplane Project permanent exhibit at the museum. Registration, which is FREE, will be limited to the first 350 child contestants and can be completed online at www.GreatPaperAirplane.org. (NOTE: Last year only 200 could enter.) On the day of the Fly-off, each registered child contestant and up to four of their family members will be admitted into the Museum free of charge for the day (a $71+ value). 

The expanded day of fun includes:

• a NASCAR® race car and simulator, courtesy of Mars, North America, Candies
• a giant inflatable obstacle course located amidst the museum’s 150 outdoor planes
• hourly door prizes including family museum memberships, year-supplies of Mars products (GOODNESSKNOWS® Snack Squares, MARATHON® Brand Energy Bars, M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies, SNICKERS® Brand Bars, etc.) and  the grand prize: a $200 Double Eagle Aviation 30-minute “Introductory Flight” for two. No charge to enter the drawings, winners must be present to win.
• a paper airplane demonstration by Guinness-World-Record holder Ken Blackburn
• a DJ and music throughout the festivities.

The Educator webpage offers a resource for teachers with a lesson plan, instructions for holding a mini-fly-off, paper- airplane patterns and links to various related sites with paper-airplane learning and facts.
In the NEW Family Fun Fly-off, the family/team with the longest average paper-airplane flight distance wins a $200 30-minute “Introductory Flight” for two from Double Eagle Aviation and a year-long family membership to the Pima Air & Space/Titan Missile Museums. A minimum of one adult 18+ (and a maximum of two adults) and a minimum of one child under 17 are required to enter the Family Fun Fly-off and registration was limited to the first 10 families (or teams) of up to six who register. NOTE: REGISTRATION FOR THE FAMILY FUN FLY-OFF IS ALREADY FULL/CLOSED.
Add this to expert tips from paper-airplane Guinness-World-Record holder Ken Blackburn (while entrants are folding and testing their airplanes) plus backpacks, t-shirts, snacks and lunch for the contestants, all amidst the inspiring Pima Air & Space Museum collection.

“This exciting event, part of a grander inspirational campaign to interest kids in aviation and engineering, is evolving to greater and greater heights,” explained Yvonne C. Morris, Executive Director of the Arizona Aerospace Foundation/Pima Air & Space Museum. “We are grateful to sponsors Mars, North America, Candies and Double Eagle Aviation for helping us expand this program that makes learning about science and technology fun,” Morris continued.

The annual Great Paper Airplane Fly-off grew out of the Great Paper Airplane Project. Registration for the children’s fly-off ends February 4, 2014 (or when 350 contestants have registered).

ABOUT THE GREAT PAPER AIRPLANE PROJECT

On March 21, 2012 the Pima Air & Space Museum made history by flying the world’s largest paper airplane: 45-feet long with a 24-foot wingspan. The airplane was inspired by then 12-year-old Tucson resident Arturo Valdenegro, whose paper airplane flew the farthest when he competed against hundreds of children in the first Great Paper Airplane Fly-Off. Arturo got to meet with the engineers who oversaw the design and construction of the 800-pound paper airplane, which flew at an altitude of 2,703 feet and a speed of 98 miles per hour. Remnants of the plane and many fly-off entrants’ planes are on permanent display at The Pima Air & Space Museum.

ABOUT PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM

Be wowed at Pima Air & Space Museum, one of the largest aviation museums in the world and the largest non-government-funded in the U.S. (TripAdvisor ranks it in the Top 10% worldwide for excellent ratings.) Its significant collection, 300 strong from around the globe, covers commercial, military and civil aviation. Plus they exhibit more than 125,000+ artifacts, including a moon rock donated by Tucsonan and Astronaut Frank Borman. Be amazed by many all-time great aircraft: the SR-71 Blackbird (the world’s fastest spy plane); a B-29 Superfortress (the WWII bomber that flew higher, farther and faster plus carried more bombs); the world’s smallest bi-plane; the C-54 (the Berlin Airlift’s star flown by the famous “Candy Bomber”  Col. USAF (Ret.) Gail Halvorsen, a Tucson-area winter resident); plus planes used as renowned-contemporary-artists’ canvases, including Brazilian graffiti artist Nunca. Explore five large hangars totaling more than 189,000 indoor square feet—four+ football fields­—of air/space craft, heroes’ stories and scientific phenomena. Two+ hangars are dedicated to WWII, one each to the European and Pacific theaters. Pima Air & Space maintains its own aircraft restoration center. It also operates exclusive tours of the “Boneyard,” aka the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, plus offers a docent-led tram tour of its 80 acres (additional fees apply). Pima Air & Space Museum is located at 6000 E. Valencia Rd., just off I-10 exit 267, in Tucson. More information can be found at www.pimaair.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PimaAirAndSpace, or by calling 520 574-0462.

Guinness World Record for the longest paper airplane time aloft, 27.6 seconds

2013 Great Paper Airplane Fly-off winners Tobias Hahn, Nathaniel Reynolds, and Aaron Embry pose in their flight-jacket prizes with Guinness World Record holder Ken Blackburn.

2013 Great Paper Airplane Fly-off heat throwing their paper airplanes

Ken Blackburn signals the start of a heat in the 2013 Great Paper Airplane Fly-off

The Great Paper Airplane Trophy on permanent display at the Pima Air & Space Museum.
Photos by Balfour Walker

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mary E Emich
Director of Marketing, Sales and Visitor Services
Arizona Aerospace Foundation
6000 East Valencia Rd
Tucson, AZ  85756
Phone 520 574-0462
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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NASA ORION MOCKUP SPLASHES DOWN AT PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM THROUGH NEW YEAR’S DAY

Tucson—Dec. 19, 2013 NASA’s Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle crew module mockup will spend the upcoming winter holidays at the Pima Air and Space Museum.
Per NASA release J13-021:

NASA Orion spacecraft mockup to splash down in Tucson today.

A test version of NASA’s Orion spacecraft has been on a cross-country road trip for the past week, and will begin a two-week rest stop in Tucson, Ariz. hosted by the Pima Air & Space Museum.

Called the boilerplate test article, it is a full-scale structural mockup of the Orion crew module that will be used for splashdown recovery operations tests off the coast of San Diego in February. These at-sea tests will be conducted in preparation for the Fall 2014 orbital flight test – Exploration Flight Test-1.

The Orion test craft left NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia on Dec. 11 and has been making its way to California via truck since then. But the trip will pause for the holidays starting today. The Orion test article is set to arrive between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Mountain time today. As the schedule is somewhat flexible, those interested in seeing it arrive can follow @NASA_Orion and #SpotOrion on Twitter for continuous updates on the arrival time.

Once it arrives, the test article will be available to be seen by the public for free for about two hours outside of the museum. Afterward, it will be moved inside the museum gates to the outdoor aircraft exhibits area, where the public can view it up close with paid museum admission.

The test article is scheduled to depart Tucson on Jan. 2 and arrive at the U.S. Navy’s Naval Base San Diego by Jan. 7.

As the test article has made its way across the country, social media users have been tracking its progress and sharing their photos of using the hashtag #SpotOrion.

A map of its route across the country can be seen at:

http://www.nasa.gov/content/see-if-you-can-spotorion/

The 18,000-pound mockup is a full-sized replica of the Orion spacecraft currently being built at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The mockup has already been used in a number of tests to ensure that Orion will be ready for its first mission, Exploration Flight Test-1, scheduled for September 2014. That mission will take Orion to 3,600 miles above the Earth’s surface before returning it at speeds of up to 20,000 miles per hour for a splash landing in the Pacific Ocean.

In February it will be used for an underway recovery test in the Pacific Ocean. For this test, the mockup will be set adrift in open and unstable waters, providing NASA and U.S. Navy the opportunity to recover the capsule and bring it into the well deck of the USS San Diego. While deployed, the team will seek out various sea states in which to practice the capsule recovery procedures. This will help build a knowledge base of how the capsule recovery differs in calm and rough seas and what the true physical limits are.

NASA and the Navy previously used this mockup to practice recovery in calm seas during a stationary recovery test in August where the spacecraft was set adrift in the waters of Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia and recovered into the docked well deck of the USS Arlington. The mockup was also dropped from 25 feet above the water of Langley’s Hydro Impact Basin to simulate different splashdown scenarios.

To learn more about Orion and Exploration Flight Test-1, visit

http://www.nasa.gov/orion

Lockheed Martin’s Deputy Orion Program Manager, Larry Price will be in Tucson for the holidays and will be available for telephone and on-camera interviews.
Photos of the BTA being used in the stationary recovery tests can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasaorion/sets/72157635072298379/.
Video of the BTA in the stationary recovery tests can be found at http://vimeo.com/81906726.

IF YOU GO
What: Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle crew module mockup on display
Where: Pima Air & Space Museum, 6000 E. Valencia Rd.
When: Beginning Fri., Dec. 20, 2013, daily through Jan. 1st (except Christmas day) regular museum hours 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., last admittance 4 p.m.
Cost: Regular admission rates apply ($15.50 for adults, $12.25 for Pima County residents, seniors $12.50; children ages 7-12 $9, 6 & under free)
For more information: www.pimaair.org; 520 574-0462

ABOUT PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM
Be wowed at Pima Air & Space Museum, one of the largest aviation museums in the world and the largest non-government-funded in the U.S. (TripAdvisor ranks it in the Top 10% worldwide for excellent ratings.) Its significant collection, 300 strong from around the globe, covers commercial, military and civil aviation alongside more than 125,000+ artifacts, including a moon rock donated by Tucsonan and Astronaut Frank Borman. Be amazed by many all-time great aircraft: the SR-71 Blackbird (the world’s fastest spy plane); a B-29 Superfortress (the WWII bomber that flew higher, farther and faster plus carried more bombs); the world’s smallest bi-plane; the C-54 (the Berlin Airlift’s star flown by the famous “Candy Bomber” Col. USAF (Ret.) Gail Halvorsen, a Tucson-area winter resident); plus planes used as renowned-contemporary-artists’ canvases, including Brazilian graffiti artist Nunca. Explore five large hangars totaling more than 189,000 indoor square feet—four+ football fields¬—of air/space craft, heroes’ stories and scientific phenomena. Two+ hangars are dedicated to WWII, one each to the European and Pacific theaters. Pima Air & Space maintains its own aircraft restoration center. It also operates exclusive tours of the “Boneyard,” aka the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, plus offers a docent-led tram tour of its 80 acres (additional fees apply). Pima Air & Space Museum is located at 6000 E. Valencia Rd., just off I-10 exit 267, in Tucson. More information can be found at www.pimaair.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PimaAirAndSpace, or by calling 520 574-0462.

Photo: Orion module entering Pima Air & Space Museum entrance. Photo by Yvonne Morris.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mary E Emich
Director of Marketing, Sales and Visitor Services
Arizona Aerospace Foundation
6000 East Valencia Rd
Tucson, AZ  85756
Phone 520 574-0462
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Download PDF

PIMA AIR & SPACE UNVEILS JETSTAR USED AS A CANVAS BY KENNY SCHARF

Tucson, AZ Dec. 4, 2013—The Pima Air & Space Museum is pleased to announce the unveiling of a Lockheed Jetstar used as a canvas by contemporary artist Kenny Scharf, entitled “Back To Supersonica.” “Back to Supersonica” joins two other “Round Trip: Art from the Bone Yard Project” painted planes—a C-45 painted by Faile and a VC-140 painted by Andrew Schoultz—originally introduced on January 28, 2012, now prominently displayed on the museum grounds along Valencia Road near the museum’s entrance.

“Traditionally our aircraft along Valencia Road face into the museum (nose in, tails out) to facilitate the docent-guided tram tour of the aircraft and maximize our museum visitor’s experience,” explained Yvonne Morris, Executive Director of the Arizona Aerospace Foundation that operates the Pima Air & Space Museum. Morris continued, “Since the trams can’t operate in this area of our grounds, we placed the smiling faces of the art planes towards passers-by on Valencia to greet everyone and welcome you to the museum.”

Conceived in spring 2010 by gallery owner Eric Firestone, and organized with curator Carlo McCormick, the “Bone Yard Project” resurrects disused airplanes and parts from America’s military history through the creative intervention of contemporary artists, taking entire airplanes and their elements out of Tucson’s scrap yards in the desert, known as “boneyards,” and putting them into the hands of artists. It was in the desert surrounding Pima Air & Space Museum where both Firestone and McCormick first discovered the “boneyards” housing these once mighty metal giants of the United States Air Force. With a nod to the airplane graffiti and “nose art‟ that became popular during WWII, the project offers a vision of the wonder by which humanity takes to the air through some of the most prominent and acclaimed artists working today.

The first phase of the “Bone Yard Project,” “Nose Job,” made its debut in the summer of 2011 with an exhibition of nose cones taken from military airplanes and given to artists to use as eccentric-shaped “canvases” at Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton, Long Island. Including more than two dozen artists, “Nose Job” enjoyed critical success as the work tapped into both the broader cultural resonance of this history, and the very personal ways one relates to such a narrative.

Phase Two, “Round Trip: Selections from The Bone Yard Project,” featured five “monumental” works created on military planes by a dynamic selection of popular graffiti and street artists from around the world. It also included selections from the previous “Nose Job” exhibition along with more than a dozen cones interpreted by artists new to this project. The curatorial team included Med Sobio, an independent curator and consultant on graffiti art, and Lesley Oliver of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, a longstanding figure on the Arizona art scene. More than 30 artists have participated in “Round Trip” including DC Super 3 planes painted by graffiti artists How & Nosm, Nunca, and Retna. These three planes are also on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum (visitors should go through Hangar 4). The nose-cone art and the C97 cockpit by Saner are not currently on display. The spray-painted “Back to Supersonica,” is an addition to Phase Two.

ABOUT PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM
Be wowed at Pima Air & Space Museum, one of the largest aviation museums in the world and the largest non-government-funded in the U.S. (TripAdvisor ranks it in the Top 10% worldwide for excellent ratings.) Its significant collection, 300 strong from around the globe, covers commercial, military and civil aviation alongside more than 125,000+ artifacts, including a moon rock donated by Tucsonan and Astronaut Frank Borman. Be amazed by many all-time great aircraft: the SR-71 Blackbird (the world’s fastest spy plane); a B-29 Superfortress (the WWII bomber that flew higher, farther and faster plus carried more bombs); the world’s smallest bi-plane; the C-54 (the Berlin Airlift’s star flown by the famous “Candy Bomber” Col. USAF (Ret.) Gail Halvorsen, a Tucson-area winter resident); plus planes used as renowned-contemporary-artists’ canvases, including Brazilian graffiti artist Nunca. Explore five large hangars totaling more than 189,000 indoor square feet—four+ football fields¬—of air/space craft, heroes’ stories and scientific phenomena. Two+ hangars are dedicated to WWII, one each to the European and Pacific theaters. Pima Air & Space maintains its own aircraft restoration center. It also operates exclusive tours of the “Boneyard,” aka the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, plus offers a docent-led tram tour of its 80 acres (additional fees apply). Pima Air & Space Museum is located at 6000 E. Valencia Rd., just off I-10 exit 267, in Tucson. More information can be found at www.pimaair.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PimaAirAndSpace, or by calling 520 574-0462.

PASMArtPlaneScharf = “Back to Supersonica;” Photo by Jason Wawro

PASMArtPlaneScharfEyes = close up of “Back to Supersonica;” Photo by Jason Wawro

PASMArtPlaneScharfAtWork = Kenny Scharf spray painting “Back to Supersonica” at Pima Air & Space Museum

PASMArtPlaneScharfSunset = “Back to Supersonica” at sunset; Photo by Jason Wawro

PASMRoundTripViewFromValencia = the new smiling view at the entrance to Pima

Air & Space Museum (taken from Valencia Road), the “Bone Yard Project: RoundTrip;” photo by John Bezosky

High resolution photos and video are available upon request.

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