CLT Institution Readies for Summer 2024 Opening

Named for U.S. Airways Flight 1549 pilot and media fair-haired boy Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, the Sullenberger Aviation Museum has unveiled a new logo and visual identity. The updated look occasions the completion of the institution’s metamorphosis from its former incarnation—the Carolinas Aviation Museum—to a so-called “reimagined transformational exploration of the power of flight with a mission to inspire, educate, and elevate the next generation.”

The new visual identity signifies not only a personification of the new brand, but an inspiring new vision for the 31-year-old organization. Set to open in summer 2024, the new facility will continue to exhibit historical aircraft while serving, also, as “an elevated educational resource and innovation center to help shape the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) workforce development pipeline throughout the region.”

Created by integrated marketing agency Luquire, the museum’s new logo comprises a shape evocative of pilots’ wings and features a tri-color—blue, green, and yellow—pallet indicative of the institution’s varied and multidimensional experiences. In the aggregate, the new logo symbolizes the Sullenberger Museum's promise of "expanding horizons." 

Sullenberger Aviation Museum President Stephen Saucier stated: "Housing one of the foremost collections of flying machines anywhere combined with powerful multisensory storytelling and interactive spaces, the Sullenberger Aviation Museum truly is a dynamic transformational and memorable experience, and this bright, innovative representation of who we are—unlike any museum logo we've seen—brilliantly showcases our mission and vision.”

Mr. Saucier added: “In a world of seemingly unlimited options for entertainment and fulfillment, people are craving unique opportunities to exercise their sense of play and satisfy their expectations for immersive, interactive narratives—and we know this museum has the capacity to do just that."

The new logo's bright colors were selected to represent the playfulness and interactivity of the museum and parallel its three distinct locational experiences: the welcome center, a main exhibit hall, and a preserved historic hangar. The aforementioned complement the Sullenberger Museum’s three thematic areas, the largest of which, dubbed Innovation Nation, is a themed exhibition zone in the new Main Gallery. Innovation Naton presents the history of aviation as a testament to humankind's capacity for creativity and recognition of possibilities beyond the known. The space will include stories of design, competition, and safety while delighting visitors with interactive experiences the likes of vertical wind tunnels, flight simulators, cockpits into which museum guests may enter, games, and make and take activities.

Sullenberger Aviation Museum vice-president of collections Katie Swaringen enthused: "Museums are special, offering visitors the chance to embrace and challenge the past while reimagining the future, and the aviation industry is filled with just that—individuals who have altered the course of history through their ingenuity. By sharing their stories, the museum will inspire visitors of all ages to pursue their own dreams and goals and explore their own potential."

Innovation Nation will also house the A320 that operated as U.S. Airways Flight 1549, better known as the Miracle on the Hudson, and a corresponding exhibit. Flight 1549 has been part of the museum's collection since 2011, but when the museum reopens it will include new artifacts and mementos, including letters from passengers to museum namesake Captain C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger who, along with his equally heroic yet inexplicably undersung first officer, landed the aircraft safely in New York's Hudson River on 15 January 2009.

Now retired from Part 121 flying, Chesley Sullenberger set forth: "The Sullenberger Aviation Museum will not just help us know and understand past achievements, it will enable and inspire us to create a brighter future.”

The museum will also include a makerspace, in which visitors can learn about aviation via interactive, hands-on activities, and a Flight Forward Catalog, which will serve as a vital resource to help students and adults connect to careers in STEM-based industries. Open to all visitors in-person and virtually via the museum's website, the makerspace will give visitors an opportunity to explore, design, and problem solve via hands-on learning experiences and tools, including a paper airplane launcher and target, Lego robotics, 3D printers, and snap circuits.

Spearheaded by Sullenberger Aviation Museum vice-president of education Dr. Misty Sweat, the catalog will be complemented by the Flight Forward Program, a conglomeration of North Carolina aviation industry and educational professionals, several colleges and universities, trade schools, workforce development groups, and the Charlotte AIR Institute, that will work together for purpose of creating strategic opportunities for student training, networking, and recruitment across STEM-based fields.

Dr. Sweat asserted: "STEM and career-focused exploration and accessibility are at the core of the Sullenberger Aviation Museum's experiences, and we are dedicated to creating an opportunity pipeline for curious students to deepen their understanding of the … people, innovation, and opportunities in aviation, and lean into that curiosity through immersive and interactive touch points.”

FMI: www.sullenbergeraviation.org