AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 16c) CALIFORNIAFLYING BY STEVEN W. ELLS Santa Maria Museum of Flight. The building was donated to the museum after being featured in the film, The Rocketman. Windows to the past A OPA is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its award-winning AOPA Pilot magazine by looking back at how general aviation has changed in the last half-century. Those who want to learn more about California’s aviation The Western Museum of Flight was on the Jack Northrop/Hawthorne Airport for decades, but a new business model at that airport eliminated the space. So last November, the Western Museum of Flight moved chock, prop, and barrel to the Torrance airport. This treasure trove of artifacts and exhibits focuses on the wide range of contributions that Jack Northrop and Northrop contributions during the past five decades will find that history is alive and well in the halls and on the grounds of the state’s 30-plus aviation museums. California pilots can fly to a number of airports, tie down their airplanes, and take a short walk to museums that are packed with the rich cross-section of aviation history in The Golden State. Aircraft had on America’s air power and the growth of the aerospace industry in California. For now, only small portions of the exhibits are on display in a hangar one row west of the terminal building. Torrance is planning the construction of a new building to house the museum. Museums provide a revealing window into historical technology and airplanes. Today, anyone with a computer and flight program software can practice instrument approaches for pennies per hour. To get insight into simulators of the past, fly up to the Hiller Museum at the San Carlos Airport and see its beautifully restored Link Trainer. This wooden box on a pedestal was the pre-eminent instrument-training device of the 1940s. After pilots enter a AOPA PILOT • 16-C • MARCH 2008
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