The Helicopter Museum.

Press Release 25th May 2009

Local Event Goes International

The Helicopter Museum in Weston-super-Mare saw its hangars full to the brim this weekend as nearly one thousand people flocked to the famous aviation museum to attend the Flight Simulator Convention that was staged there as part of the national ‘Museums At Night’ Campaign. However it wasn’t just local people that attended, as due to the scale and rarity of the event visitors flew in from all over the World.

“We had visitors from Holland, Belgium, The USA and India” Museum Manager Lee Mills said “ and even one gentleman who flew to the UK from Malaysia especially to test out and then order a custom built £2000 hydraulic pilots chair that was being exhibited here.”

With over thirty simulators including a jet fighter and a Boeing 737 set up around the helicopters in the collection, the museum literally came to life with the sounds of jet engines echoing around the rafters and helicopter action projected onto the big screen for the crowds to enjoy.

Flight simulator enthusiast Alex Jefferies who attended the event said “I have been to lots of similar conventions in the UK but never to any on this scale, the museum was a marvellous setting and the atmosphere here was electric, people could not believe that they could have a go and test fly all the different simulators for free.”

To prep for the weekend a small team of dedicated volunteers spent weeks laying and installing over two and a half miles of computer cable to link all the various displays and simulators together to create a virtual airspace over Weston-super-Mare for visitors to fly over.

As well as the various simulators and trade stands, the Museum also opened up four of its helicopters to the public especially for the event whilst Museum Air Marshallers were kept busy on the helipad landing the various aircraft that flew in for the event including both branches of the local air ambulance.

The ‘Museum at Night’ Weekend broke all museum attendance figures and another event has already been green lighted for next year.

NOTES

The Helicopter Museum is the largest of its kind in the World and a registered charity. (Number 281053).

Museums at Night is organised by Culture24 and is funded by MLA. For further information visit www.24hourmuseum.org.uk

Culture24 is a registered charity and not-for-profit online publisher, working across the arts, heritage, education, and tourism sectors.

MLA is the government agency for museums, libraries and archives. Leading strategically, MLA promotes best practice to inspire innovative, integrated and sustainable services for all. Visit www.mla.gov.uk

La Nuit De Musée was introduced by the French Culture Department to succeed Printemps de Musées and takes place on the Saturday nearest to International Museums Day (May 18). It is now supported by the Council of Europe. In 2008, 2,200 museums in 40 European countries took part. For more information visit www.nuitdesmusees.culture.fr