There’s much more to Balboa Park’s Air and Space Museum than static displays of historic flight — it’s an aerial circus at ground level. There’s no one better at the controls than executive director Jim Kidrick, a one-time Navy fighter pilot and former organizer of major air shows. He even headed the Mission Bay Bayfair hydroplane races for eight years. Museum officials have added a 3-D/4-D theater as a coupled entertainment entry with the ongoing “Science of Aliens” exhibit. There’s a kid’s hangar, an observation deck and many historical planes with scenes that depict progress of flight. Throughout are video presentations. “(Previously), we had taken a survey and found that 81 percent of our visitors were from out of the area,” Kidrick said. “Now, its 45, 46 and even 48 percent from our region. We have quadrupled the length of time of the average visit. There’s always something different like the observation deck in the back patio. “Have a hot dog or Slurpee and listen to the airport tower’s instructions as airliners fly over,” he said. “The experience (here) should be fun. These displays become more receptive when they can educate and inspire. A family in the past might say, ‘We’re going to the museum,’ and it would sound as though you’re taking them to the dentist.” He said in mid-August four additional joint strike simulators of the new F-35 Lightning program will be in place. Coming in February to replace the “Aliens” exhibit will be NASA’s supported “Space: A Journey to our Future.” It’s about space — from the beginning to the end — with many interactive things. “I saw it at the SmIthsonian,” Kidrick said. “We’ll have an additional 3,000 to 4,000 square feet for it than they did.” Previous traveling exhibits have been “Star Trek” and “The Da Vinci Experience.” The “Aliens” exhibit is broken into four sections: alien fiction, alien science , alien worlds and alien communication. The “Science of Aliens” exhibit’s limited engagement has extended well beyond January. The 3-D/4-D Zable Theater seats 36 guests and employs unique special effects. They are played continuously each day at no extra cost. Just add some exciting motion with the depth of third dimension. One film is about a schoolboy’s mythical jetpack adventure past skyscrapers and over freeways. The other is an exciting trip in the legendary Apollo 11 as it shoots to the moon. Then look back with an eye-popping view of Earth. Funding for the theater was provided by the Walter J. Zable and Betty C. Zable Foundation, Cubic Corporation and the San Diego Air & Space Technology Center. The Kid’s Aviation Action Hangar offers preschoolers magnetic toys and aviation coloring books, with art equipment to sketch aircraft or to pedal planes. Grade-schoolers can board flight simulators or romp on the moon’s surface in space suits. Kidrick likes to discuss the many positive changes taking place. It’s a busy place.
