Helicopter Adventure
Upcoming dates:
Sunday, May 7, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, June 11, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, July 9, 11 AM – 12 PM
Wednesday, August 23, 11 AM – 12 PM
Event included with Museum admission. Free for Museum Members.
Advanced tickets available on VBO Tickets
Discover the world of vertical flight!
Each Helicopter Adventure starts with an introduction to the development of rotary-wing aircraft and explanation of the parts of the helicopter using a real Scorpion aircraft. Then, participants build and fly their own paper helicopters and climb aboard the cockpit of the Scorpion for themselves!
Event is included with Museum admission.
Happy Birds
Upcoming dates:
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Saturday, July 22, 2023
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
11 AM
Event included with Museum admission.
Online tickets available Click Here
Join a feathered frenzy with the Happy Birds! This elite team of parrots, macaws and cockatoos takes wing for a dazzling performance featuring wild and trained behaviors of all sorts. Arrive early for best seating and take flight on the wild side with these popular parrots and their friends.
These avian performers have been featured on The Tonight Show, Pet Star and The Ellen Show. Their repertoire includes: animal impersonations, singing opera, crying like a baby, and even a song called Clementine!
You will see fantastic birds showing incredible skills, including:
- RIDING A BIKE
- THE SHELL GAME
- RIDING A SCOOTER
- TALKING AND SINGING SONGS
- PLAYING BASKETBALL
- ANIMAL IMPERSONATIONS
- RAISING THE FLAG
- 360 DEGREE SWING
- SKATEBOARDING
- FLYING TRICKS
- OPENING DRINKS
- AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
- AND MUCH MORE!
San Francisco Bay Area’s Biggest Little Airshow at the Hiller Aviation Museum
The Biggest Little Air Show
Saturday, June 17, 2023
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
This year’s show will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the museum by matching a thrilling aerobatic performance by airshow pilot Vicky Benzing in her 1940 Boeing Stearman airplane and the Sukhoi West Demo Team along with demonstrations of exceptional radio-controlled models.
Beautifully detailed radio control model aircraft will be on display and perform demonstrations at the Museum from 10:30 AM to 12 PM.
San Carlos Airport will close to regular traffic from 10:30 am to noon to allow realistic jet and propeller-powered model aircraft to roll down the runway and into the sky to take their part in a unique aerial extravaganza including aerobatic helicopters, drones, quadrotors, and more!!
Performers:
-
- Airshow pilot Vicky Benzing in her 1940 Boeing Stearman airplane
- Sukhoi West Demo Team
- The RC Flyers model aircraft demonstrations
- Aerobatic gyroscopic routines
- 3D aerobatic helicopters
- DRONES
- Quads
- Model Rockets
- Jets and other RC aircraft
Get your Tickets Online
Buy your tickets online
Tickets Now On Sale
Admission:
$19 Adults (18-64)
$12 Youth (5-17)
$12 Senior (65+)
Free (Children 4 and under)
Ticket sales end Friday evening June 16 or when the show is sold out, so get your tickets early! Tickets will not be sold at the door.
No free passes or discount tickets accepted for this event.
Museum Members also need advanced tickets (no charge). The number of member tickets is in accordance with membership level. Show Museum ID card when entering the event with your ticket.
Advanced ticket purchase on Eventbrite
What are my transport/parking options getting to the event?
The museum has FREE parking BUT it is very limited. You will be directed by our parking volunteers to park at the museum or in any of the airport parking lots down Skyway RD. There may be up to a 3/4 mile walk and/or there will be a shuttle bus running to the furthest parking lot at the end of Skyway Rd. Please car pool or better yet – Take Uber or Lyft.
At the conclusion of the air show the traffic light at the corner of Redwood Shores Pkwy and Airport Dr. can back up. We strongly recommend sticking around the show afterwards and talk to the pilots, have lunch, check out the Drone Plex and enjoy the Museum. Shuttle bus runs until 2PM.
Seating:
There is no seating provided. You are welcome to bring your own folding chairs to the show. The gate to the flight line will open approximately 10 minutes prior to the show. Placing your chairs on the flight line is on a first come basis. There is no reserved areas.
Flight Demonstration Schedule*
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
- WWII Warbirds
- Civilian Aircraft
- 3D Aerobatics
- IMac Aerobatic Demo
- Drone Race & Freestyle Demo
- 3D Helicopter aerobatics
- Giant Sailplanes
- Model Rocket Launch
- Turbine Jets
- Full size acrobatics by Sukhoi West Demo Team, Randy Howell and Cory Lovell
- Full size acrobatics by Vicky Benzing in her Extra 1940 Boeing Stearman
12:10 pm – 3:00 pm
- Drone flying in the Drone Plex located in the Museum Gallery.
*Schedule subject to change without notice
This is a video from a previous year’s event.
This year’s Biggest Little Airshow is Saturday, June 17, 2023
Vicky Benzing in her 1940 Boeing Stearman
About Vicky Benzing
Born And Raised In California, Vicky Benzing Is An Accomplished Pilot, Skydiver, Aerobatic Performer, And Air Racer. With Over 9500 Hours Of Flight Time And Over 1300 Parachute Jumps, Vicky Has A Passion For Everything Airborne. Her Flying Career Has Spanned Nearly Forty Years, And She Currently Holds An Airline Transport Pilot Rating As Well As A Commercial Rating In Helicopters, Seaplanes, And Gliders.
Vicky Still Remembers Her First Flight In Her Uncle’s Airplane When She Was Just A Small Child. Inspired By That Flight At A Very Young Age, Vicky Learned To Fly In A Family Friend’s Antique Taylorcraft In Her Hometown Of Watsonville, On The California Coast. She Was Thrilled By The Spins, Loops, And Rolls That Her Ex-Military Instructor Taught Her And Subsequently Took Aerobatic Instruction From Legendary Pilot Amelia Reid.
Vicky’s Aerobatic Flying Took A Brief Back Seat While She Earned Her Ph.D. In Chemistry From Uc Berkeley And Began Working In The Silicon Valley High Tech Industry. But Her Passion For Spins, Loops, And Rolls Soon Returned When She Took An Aerobatic Flight With Air Show Legend Wayne Handley.
In 2005, Vicky Began Her Aerobatic Training In Earnest. She Began Competing In Aerobatic Contests Throughout The Us, Working Her Way Up Through The Many Categories. In Between Contests, Vicky Also Began Performing In Local Air Shows. Today Vicky Holds A Surface Level Aerobatic Waiver And Has Flown Hundreds Of Air Show Performances At Venues Across The United States, Including As An Invited Performer At The Greatest Airshow In The World, Eaa Airventure In Oshkosh, Wi.
About Sukhoi West Demo Team 
The Sukhoi West Demo Team brings together two highly accomplished pilots with the best aerobatic aircraft in the world. Sukhois have been flown by the top World Aerobatic pilots year after year in competitions and air shows.
Randy Howell is the Patriots Jet Team Owner and recently started flying the Sukhoi SU-26 in addition to leading the Patriots 6-ship jet team. Randy has accumulated more than 27,000 hours of flight time and took early retirement as a 747-400 Capt. He’s an advanced instructor in aerobatics, formation, and UPRT, as well as a Check Airman in a multitude of aircraft. He has flown air shows for 24 years and raced in three different classes at the Reno Air Races. He holds an ATP with 24 different type ratings from MiG-17s to the Boeing 747.
Cory Lovell’s experience comes from taking to the sky at the age of 12, followed by years of training with some of the best pilots in the world, including Sergei Boriak, Elena Klimovich, and Bill Stein. Cory’s also an aerobatic instructor in the San Francisco Bay Area and is Type Rated in the L-39 as well as several other unique aircraft. The Sukhoi West Demo Team spends much of their time working with aspiring pilots in the local community to help them realize their dreams.
Sukhoi West Demo Team website click here.
Sponsored by
Glider Discovery Day
Upcoming dates:
Sunday, March 26, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, May 28, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, June 18, 11 AM – 12 PM
Wednesday, July 12, 11 AM – 12 PM
Event included with Museum admission. Free for Museum Members.
Event dates and/or format subject to change if required by public health orders.
Advanced tickets available on VBO Tickets
Discover the world of flight in a special outdoor family event!
Learn the names of the different parts of the airplane, then join in the fun the help build a full-size Penguin airplane! Then, assemble a balsa wood glider and join a fun festival of flight outdoors in the museum’s Courtyard. Each child receives a glider to take home!
Event is included with Museum admission.
Water Rocket Rally
Upcoming dates:
Sunday, April 30, 11 am – 12 pm
Sunday, May 21, 11 am – 12 pm
Wednesday, June 21, 11 am – 12 pm
Sunday, July 2, 11 am – 12 pm
Wednesday, July 26, 11 am – 12 pm
Sunday, August 13, 11 am – 12 pm
Event included with Museum admission. Free for Museum Members.
Advanced tickets for Sunday events available on VBO Tickets
Discover the world of rockets!
Bring along a recycled 1- or 2-liter soda bottle or purchase a new water rocket body in the Museum’s Gift Shop ($1.50/bottle) and join the rocket workshop! Use a variety of common craft materials to convert a bottle into a high performance rocket vehicle, then test fly it across the Museum’s Courtyard on a fountain of compressed air and water.
Event is included with Museum admission.
Participants must bring a clean, empty soda bottle (water bottles are not suitable for this activity), or may purchase one in the Museum’s Gift Shop on the day of the event.
Kids’ Carnival
Sunday, April 23, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, May 14, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, June 25, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, July 30, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, August 27, 10 AM – 12 PM
Event included with Museum admission. No charge for Museum Members.
Join the excitement with special activities just for kids! Aircraft checkouts, cockpit exploration, glider and helicopter construction and more are just some of the activities available at each Kids’ Carnival.
Advance tickets available on VBO Tickets
Kids’ Carnival Activities
Outdoor Kids’ Carnival
March – November 2023 (February 2023 Weather Permitting)
- Paint-a-Plane Cessna Cardinal
- Scorpion Helicopter Checkout
- Paper Helicopter Construction
- Penguin Airplane Assembly
- Open Cockpit Aircraft
Indoor Kids’ Carnival
December 2022 – February 2023
- Vertical Wind Tunnels
- Paper Helicopters
- Scorpion Helicopter Checkout
- Glider Construction
- Penguin Airplane Assembly
- Rig-a-ma-Jig Construction
Sponsored by
Paper Airplanes
Upcoming dates:
Wednesday, June 28, 11 AM & 1 PM
Saturday, July 8, 11 AM
Wednesday, August 16, 11 AM & 1 PM
Event included with Museum admission. No charge to Hiller Aviation Museum Members.
Event dates and/or format subject to change if required by public health orders.
Online tickets available Click Here
Everyone loves paper airplanes. We turn into test pilots just by folding sheets of paper. We make them to see how fast they will go or how far they will fly, we even try to do aerobatics with them.
One of the top paper airplane makers in the country (and world record holder), John Collins, will join us for an expert demonstration of the wonder, delight and aeronautic capabilities of hand made paper gliders. John is world distance paper airplane record holder and a master paper airplane builder. John has written a number of books on building paper airplanes that will be available at the event and John will make sure he personalizes it just for you.
John’s discussions and demonstrations will last approximately 45 minutes. No reservations are required and the event is included with your museum admission.
John’s creative designs include planes so light that simply holding it above your hand and walking makes it fly. He has planes that perform unique aerobatics and even planes that become two when thrown in the air.
Water Rocket Rally
Upcoming dates:
Sunday, April 30, 11 am – 12 pm
Sunday, May 21, 11 am – 12 pm
Wednesday, June 21, 11 am – 12 pm
Sunday, July 2, 11 am – 12 pm
Wednesday, July 26, 11 am – 12 pm
Sunday, August 13, 11 am – 12 pm
Event included with Museum admission. Free for Museum Members.
Advanced tickets for Sunday events available on VBO Tickets
Discover the world of rockets!
Bring along a recycled 1- or 2-liter soda bottle or purchase a new water rocket body in the Museum’s Gift Shop ($1.50/bottle) and join the rocket workshop! Use a variety of common craft materials to convert a bottle into a high performance rocket vehicle, then test fly it across the Museum’s Courtyard on a fountain of compressed air and water.
Event is included with Museum admission.
Participants must bring a clean, empty soda bottle (water bottles are not suitable for this activity), or may purchase one in the Museum’s Gift Shop on the day of the event.
Happy Birds
Upcoming dates:
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Saturday, July 22, 2023
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
11 AM
Event included with Museum admission.
Online tickets available Click Here
Join a feathered frenzy with the Happy Birds! This elite team of parrots, macaws and cockatoos takes wing for a dazzling performance featuring wild and trained behaviors of all sorts. Arrive early for best seating and take flight on the wild side with these popular parrots and their friends.
These avian performers have been featured on The Tonight Show, Pet Star and The Ellen Show. Their repertoire includes: animal impersonations, singing opera, crying like a baby, and even a song called Clementine!
You will see fantastic birds showing incredible skills, including:
- RIDING A BIKE
- THE SHELL GAME
- RIDING A SCOOTER
- TALKING AND SINGING SONGS
- PLAYING BASKETBALL
- ANIMAL IMPERSONATIONS
- RAISING THE FLAG
- 360 DEGREE SWING
- SKATEBOARDING
- FLYING TRICKS
- OPENING DRINKS
- AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
- AND MUCH MORE!
