Book a Ride to Aviation’s Storied Past
Designed by William Bushnell Stout and developed by the Ford Motor Company, the Ford Trimotor—colloquially, the Tin Goose—is a three-engined transport aircraft broadly regarded as the world’s first luxury airliner.
Fittingly, the model’s June 1926 introduction occasioned the beginning of commercial air-service.
During its 1925 through 1933 production run, Ford produced 199 specimens of the Trimotor in 42 different iterations for both civilian and military customers.
While seeking backers for his eponymous Stout Metal Aircraft Company, W.B. Stout, a bold and imaginative promotor, sent a mimeographed form letter pluckily requesting $1,000 investments to no fewer than 19 monied individuals—including Henry Ford and his son, Edsel. In the letter, Stout candidly set forth: “"For your one-thousand-dollars, you will get one definite promise: You will never get your money back."
Stout raised $20,000—a kingly sum in the early 1920s.
In 1925, Ford purchased the Stout Metal Aircraft Company and its designs, and parlayed such into the Stout Trimotor—a large airplane (for its time) powered by a trio of Curtiss-Wright air-cooled radial engines. Over numerous incarnations and constant improvements, the Stout Trimotor evolved into the aircraft history would remember as the Ford Trimotor.
AirVenture 2023 will again see the EAA’s Ford Trimotor 4-AT-E on hand to provide once-in-a-lifetime tours and rides to event attendees.
The thirty-minute flights comprise 15-minutes of flight-time during which passengers will experience the flying-machine in which their great, great (perhaps even greater) grandparents might have flown, and at which they surely marveled.
Flights are $80 per-adult in advance (walk-up price is $85), and $55 per-child 17 and under. Once aboard the aircraft, passengers will be required to remain seated—which shouldn’t prove troublesome insomuch as the aircraft’s every cabin seat is a window seat. For an additional fee, co-pilot seats are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Access to the airplane is via two conventionally-sized steps, and seldom proves problematic for elderly or mobility-limited individuals. Seats are individual (no double seats) and separated by a central aisle. Seatbelt extensions are available. Children under the age of 16-years must be accompanied—during rides—by an adult. Children under the age of two-years may be carried in an adult’s lap free of charge.
All passengers are required to sign liability waivers. Parents are required to sign waivers for each child under the age of 18-years.
The EAA invites families to visit AirVenture 2023 and learn about the organization and its aircraft.
Revenues from the Ford Tri-Motor tour and rides help meet the aircraft’s considerable maintenance and operations costs, and sustain the EAA’s ambition to keep its Tin Goose flying for years to come.
Hearing protection in the vicinity of aircraft is recommended. Ergo, ear-plugs will be made available for use.
Parties interested in booking flights aboard the EAA’s Ford Trimotor are invited to contact EAA Membership Services at (877)-952-5395.
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