GROUP RATES / 10 OR MORE
Guided Tour – $12 / person
Hands-on Activity – Add $3 / person
Our museum staff includes a full-time professional dedicated to ensuring groups enjoy every visit. Our tour guides and historians offer fascinating stories and insights on our many exhibits. Enhance the experience with a Hands-on Activity or a short course in our Flight Simulator Lab!
The Simulator Lab (in our Soar High Center) is a great opportunity for groups (Grade 2 and above) to get a feel for what it takes to fly an aircraft. Adult groups are also welcome to try their flying skills on our Flight Sims!
Other groups are also welcome to plan Guided Tours and add Hands-on Activities. We can tailor a tour to your specific interests — from Black History to Carrier Aviation, World War I to the Cold War.
Call us to discuss ideas for planning your tour with us!
GROUP RATES / 10 OR MORE
Guided Tour – $12 / person
Hands-on Activity – Add $3 / person
Guided tours for K-through-12th grade groups start with a Preflight Briefing on the rules, regulations and route of their flight. Takeoff is in the Early Aviation Hangar, navigating through early aviation aircraft, experimental and homebuilt aircraft. Landing is in our South Hangar, with aviation technologies from World War II, Korean War and Vietnam eras — and includes the Tuskegee Airmen aircraft. We close the tour with a Debriefing, encouraging student participation and reviewing Alabama’s numerous ties to aviation history.
Pioneers of Flight Overcoming Obstacles: Discussing the Tuskegee Airmen, Wright Brothers and more. Learn how courageous Pioneers in Aviation not only overcame Gravity, but so many other challenges in the quest to fly. Students hear stories of Aviation Pioneers who made history despite challenges, obstacles and other social hardships.
People Places and Events in the U.S. and World History: WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and more. Historical events are tied to Alabama’s rich aviation history — and to those who made it happen. Learn about Local Heroes who were a part of that history, from the skies over Europe to low-level flight through the jungle treetops of Southeast Asia.
Alabama History: Learn about Alabamians who contributed to the fields of aviation science, education, technology, arts and air defense in the 20th-century. Your students will hear the stories of Alabamians’ many successes in those fields. Tours can be adapted to specific interests.
Forces of Flight and Laws of Motion: Newton’s Three Laws. Lift, weight, thrust and drag. Students see real life applications of these fundamental properties of aerodynamics and physics. Our Aviation experts explain them in a way that makes sense to classes of any age group.
Phenomenal Weather: Students learn principles of weather — including conditions along frontal systems — and read basic weather maps. We also discuss weather preparedness for tornadoes, hurricanes, and other weather phenomena.
Math for Flight: Pilots, Aircrew and Mechanics need a solid foundation in Mathematics to perform their duties. This Tour emphasizes Mathematics concepts as they relate to Aviation, reinforcing the importance of Math for success in Aviation or any field.
Navigation for Flight: Whether you’re flying, fixing or designing aircraft, you have to read and understand checklists, technical manuals and flying regulations. We emphasize the importance of language and visual-arts skills as they relate to success in aviation or any field.
This tour allows educators to guide their students through our galleries independently. These tours can take place anytime the museum is open, including weekends. All standard rules apply, including One Adult per every 10 students.
Students learn aerodynamics, weather principles, 3-D design concepts and aviation history. Choose from the following activities:
Students build a glider, or paper airplanes, in our experimental aviation hangar classroom —adjusting their aircrafts’ flight characteristics based on the aerodynamic principles discussed during construction.
Students build a functioning weather instrument, which they can test on existing or simulated conditions. We also record observations, and make a forecast based on weather principles discussed during construction.
Students learn about the basic elements and principles of art, and the scientific significance of aircraft and airfoil designs. Students then create a 3-D airplane, utilizing proportion and focusing on perspective.
Students learn to identify characteristics of abstract art, including lines, shapes and space. They’ll also identify the function of a Compass Rose on a map, then create an abstract collage using the Compass Rose as their central theme.
Teachers divide their classes into teams, then send them on a mission to locate information from the exhibits, keeping them highly engaged as they explore the museum on their own.
(Grades 2- 12. Add $7 per person. Allow 90 minutes, in addition to the tour)
Held in our Soar High Center, the Flight Simulator Lab is a great hands-on opportunity for students to experience the challenge of learning to fly.
Our flight instructors are more than great Virtual pilots. Several have instructed military and civilian flight students. They’ll take your students through ground school, which includes: Principles of Flight, Map Reading, Cockpit Instrumentation, Preflight Briefings and a simulated flight to a local airport. The Lab can accommodate 15 flight crews (30 students).
TOUR TIMES: 9:30am, 11am and 1pm
Guided Tour (1 hour): $12 per student
Guided Tour + Hands-On Activity (1.5 hours): $14
Flight Simulator Lab (1.5 hours): $7
Guided Tour + Hands-On Activity + Flight Simulator Lab (3 hours): $15
One adult for every ten students. Chaperones pay the student price. The Museum can accommodate a minimum of 10 students per booking. If you have more than 150 students, please call the museum.
Choose your Guided Tour, and consider including a Hands-On Activity or the Flight Simulator Lab. Then fill-out and submit your tour date request in the form on this page.
Staying for lunch?
We have great facilities, indoors and out, for students to enjoy a Brown Bag lunch. It’s a nice option if you’re adding a Flight Simulator Lab to your Guided Tour, or if you simply want to spend more time in the museum.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact us at 205-833-8226 or info@southernmuseumofflight.org.
The Southern Museum of Flight celebrates the past, present and future of aviation in Birmingham, Alabama, and the South.”