MUKILTEO — The Future of Flight Aviation Center is turning 10 years old and is headed for a growth spurt.
Its leadership has bold plans to make the center as big a draw as its other half, the Boeing factory tour. The two have been packaged together since the center opened in December 2005.
The plans include adding exhibit and event space inside the center, increasing and improving the exhibits, and expanding educational programs. That will take money, $12 million “at a minimum,” said Bonnie Hilory, executive director of the Future of Flight Foundation. The nonprofit group runs the center.
When she joined the group two years ago, several critical institutional pieces were missing, she said. “Everybody had worked so hard to get this place up and running.”
Since then, the group has filled in those gaps.
Hilory plans to fill in one more in 2016 by hiring the center’s first full-time exhibit director.
“That’s really the pain point right now,” she said. “That is really what we need, that subject-matter expert” to give visitors a richer, deeper vision of aviation’s future.
Some of that work is already happening.
Earlier this year, the center opened a “maker space” where members and visitors can design and produce objects using a 3D printer. Last spring, it added its Family Fun Zone for kids to explore the science of flight.
The nonprofit group is even changing. It is getting a new name and brand, which is planned to be announced at its 10th anniversary celebration on Dec. 17.
The event’s focus is socializing and fun, Hilory said.
Former Boeing engineer Joe Sutter, who led the team that developed the 747, will be on hand.
The Future of Flight Foundation was started primarily to raise money for the center and support aerospace-related education. At the time, the Museum of Flight in Seattle had agreed to operate the center, which is owned by Snohomish County and partners with the Boeing Co.
However, the Museum of Flight backed out before the center at Paine Field opened, and the foundation stepped in.
The number of visitors has roughly doubled since 2005. Based on ticket sales, the center is on track to break 300,000 guests by year’s end, which will be a first, she said.
For years, the nonprofit has been asking for a Community Transit bus stop on site. The closest one is down a big hill, a long trek for luggage-toting travelers coming to the center.
In November, voters approved Proposition 1, increasing Community Transit funding.
Community Transit “will be reviewing transit needs throughout the county,” spokesman Martin Munguia said.
A stop at the center will be on the list of possible additions, he said.
The center and the Boeing factory tour are huge for county tourism, said Amy Spain, head of the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau.
They bolster the cluster of aviation attractions at Paine Field, including the Historic Flight Foundation, the Flying Heritage Collection and the Museum of Flight Restoration Center, she said. “The other attractions are the icing on the cake.”
The Future of Flight Foundation seeks to draw a wide array of visitors, including students through summer camps and other educational programs, Hilory said.
Aviation enthusiasts — or avgeeks, as many call themselves — make up a big part of the center’s visitors.
“Their passion is endless,” as is their grasp of aviation facts and details, she said. “Whenever I talk to those folks, I feel like I am just playing on the surface.”
Since 2009, the center has been a venue for the Aviation Geek Fest Seattle, which is organized by AirlineReporter.com, an avgeek website.
It was an obvious choice, said David Parker Brown, AirlineReporter.com’s editor-in-chief.
The center and the accompanying tour let visitors glimpse the “complex process it takes to build Boeing aircraft,” he said.
“The Future of Flight Aviation Center already has some great programs for teaching kids about aviation,” Brown said.
Hopefully, it will continue growing, helping create a new generation of aviation enthusiasts in the process, he said.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
The Future of Flight Foundation’s 10th anniversary party
When: 6 p.m., Dec. 17
Where: Future of Flight Aviation Center, 8415 Paine Field Boulevard, Mukilteo
How much: $125 for members, $150 for nonmembers
Learn more and buy tickets online at www.futureofflight.org/10-year-celebration
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