Updated May 29, 2024 - Culture

See inside the Charlotte aviation museum named for famous Captain Sully

Ashley Mahoney

"Miracle on the Hudson" aircraft is the anchor of the new museum. — "Miracle on the Hudson" is the museum's feature exhibit. Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios

The Sullenberger Aviation Museum, formerly the Carolinas Aviation Museum, opens on June 1.

Why it matters: The museum is named after Captain C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, best known for piloting the "Miracle on the Hudson" in 2009.

Context: Sullenberger landed Charlotte-bound U.S. Airways Flight 1549 safely in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009. Everyone onboard survived the emergency landing.

In 2011, the then-Carolinas Aviation Museum opened an exhibit about the Miracle on the Hudson. It'll be the featured exhibit at The Sullenberger Aviation Museum.
In Jan. 2023, the 32-year-old Charlotte museum unveiled its new name honoring Sullenberger, who said at the unveiling ceremony he never thought he'd have a museum named after him, and certainly not while he's still alive.

What to expect: The new 105,000-square-foot facility will span multiple buildings.

In addition to interactive exhibits like flight simulators, the site will house more than 45 historic planes and will offer STEM education programs.
It'll also serve as an airport overlook with an outdoor plaza.
Later this fall, another gallery space called the "Aviation City Gallery," will open inside a historic W.P.A. Douglas hangar built in the 1930s.

Tickets are $24 for adults; $20 for seniors (age 65+), veterans, active service members and educators; $18 for ages 5 to 17; and free for members and children under 5 years old.

Low-income families using SNAP/EBT can pay $3 per person or $30 for an annual family membership.
Opening day is sold out.

Stop by: Sullenberger Aviation Museum is at 4108 Minuteman Way.

It's open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4:30pm, Sundays from 12-4:30pm.
There won't be a direct shuttle from Charlotte Douglas International Airport, but the museum is located about five minutes away.

Between the lines: There was a time when the museum's future was in jeopardy, museum president Stephen Saucier tells Axios. It first opened in an 11,000-square-foot Works Progress Administration hangar in the 1990s and eventually moved into a 30,000-square-foot hangar.

In 2018, the museum was notified by Charlotte Douglas International Airport that its hangar would be used by Honeywell, who was moving its headquarters to Charlotte.
"The museum found itself without a home," Saucier says. "[It was] a crisis that we used as an opportunity to ask the city, to ask its officials, to ask donors, to ask ourselves 'what's our path going forward and why?'"

By the numbers: In all, $34 million was raised to build the museum. Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias was a passenger on flight 1549. He donated $1 million to the project.

"We all have many jobs to do, and we have to do them when no one is watching," Elias said of his biggest lesson from his Miracle on the Hudson experience at a January ceremony unveiling the museum's new name.

Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias (left) and Capt. C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger at the unveiling. Elias was a passenger on flight 1549, and he donated $1 million to the project. Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios

The big picture: Museum leaders say they hope it'll serve as an economic catalyst and a hub for innovation, with 120,000 visitors expected annually, plus more than 15,000 students using the space for STEM programming and career development labs.

"Aviation is exploding, Saucier says. "It's not just an interest sector. It's an economic opportunity."
74,000 people visited the museum in 2019, the final year before it closed, CBJ reported.

Take a look around.