Glider Discovery Day
Upcoming dates:
Sunday, December 11, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, January 22, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, February 19, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, March 26, 11 AM – 12 PM
Wednesday, January 18, 3 PM – 4 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.
Helicopter Adventure
Upcoming dates:
Sunday, December 18, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, January 29, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, February 26, 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:
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
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!
Open Cockpit Day
Upcoming dates:
Wednesday, December 28, 2022 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Event included with Museum admission.
Online tickets available on VBO
Join us for a unique opportunity to gain a pilot’s eye perspective on many of the Hiller Aviation Museum’s aircraft. The McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, Boeing 747 and Hiller H-12 cockpits are always open, but on Open Cockpit Days the doors and canopies of many additional aircraft in the Museum’s collection swing open to allow visitors a special chance to sit inside and explore the controls and instruments needed to fly these aircraft.
Sit in the cockpits of the following aircraft:
- Grumman HU-16 Albatross
- Fokker Dr.1 Red Baron
- Aero Commander 500U
- Boeing 737-100
- Boeing 747
- Cessna 177 Cardinal
- Aero L-39 Albatross
- Bell 47D
Paper Airplanes
Upcoming dates:
Thursday, December 29, 2022 11 AM
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.
“Sled Driver” – Brian Shul
Friday, December 30, 11:00 am
Presentation and book signing by Brian Shul
Event included with Museum admission.
The Hiller Aviation Museum welcomes back Air Force SR-71 pilot Brian Shul. One of only 93 pilots who qualified to fly “The Sled,” Brian flew the SR-71 Blackbird for four years. His book, Sled Driver: Flying the World’s Fastest Jet, provides a unique aviator-eye view of this remarkable flying machine.
Join us on Friday, December 30 at 11 am as he shares his experiences in person in a special presentation at the Museum.
As an Air Force fighter pilot, Brian Shul was shot down in the Vietnam War and severely burned in the ensuing crash. Initially given up for dead, he was rescued and spent one year in hospitals and was told his flying days were over.
Amazingly, Brian returned to active duty flying and culminated his Air Force career by flying the Top Secret spy plane, the SR-71. Flying the world’s fastest and highest flying aircraft required an astronaut physical and Brian made Air Force history when he passed with no waivers.
Noon Year’s Eve Celebration!
Saturday, December 31
10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Kids and parents, come celebrate the New Year with music, activities, face painting and a countdown to THREE GIANT balloon drops at noon!
This event begins at 10 am and ends at 1 pm. Museum will be open to the general public at 1 pm until 5 pm.
This event is online advanced purchase only.
Tickets will NOT be sold at the door. This event will sell out so get your tickets early.
Members are FREE but must also get the online tickets and show your membership card at the membership check in at the door. If you are interested in becoming a member and entering this event and many others throughout the year for free Click Here.
No passes or other discount coupons accepted at this event.
The event will follow San Mateo County mandates for Covid-19 rules at the time of the event.
Click Here for tickets
Museum opens at 1 pm for regular admissions.
Tickets will be sold online only. Tickets go on sale Dec 1, 2022 through this web page. This event will sell out so get your tickets early.
Schedule of Activities:
10:00-10:30 Lori & RJ Music
10:30 –10:45 ‘Sing with Bela’. YouTube Sensation
10:45-11:15 Magic with Gerald
11:15-11:45 Broadway Babies and Kids
11:45-Noon Countdown to BALLOON DROP with Lori & RJ
12:15-12:45 Puppet Company
12:45-1:00 Wrap It Up with Lori & RJ
*Schedule subject to change
Stage Entertainment
Lori & RJ – Cotton Candy Express Music
Broadway Babies & Kids
Dance Schools
Puppet Show
Event Activities
Face Painting
Obstacle Course
Jump House
Drone flying in the Drone Plex
Imagination Playground
Flight Sim Zone
Invention Lab
Exhibitors and Food
Verso Hair Braiding and Sand Bottle Artwork.
Food: Nob Hill Pizza & Hot Dogs
Straw Rocket Workshop
Upcoming dates:
All Launches 11 am – 12 pm
Sunday, January 8, 2023
Sunday, February 5, 2023
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Event included with Museum admission. No charge for Museum Members.
Advanced tickets available on VBO Tickets
Explore the world of rocketry!
Each Air Rocket Blastoff features an introduction to rocketry and Newton’s Third Law of Motion, including an exploration of a real JPL rocket on display at the Hiller Aviation Museum. Following a demonstration, participants construct a high-performance straw rocket, then launch it across the museum with a calibrated burst of air.
Event is included with Museum admission.
Kids’ Carnival
Sunday, January 15, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, February 12, 10 AM – 12 PM (Football Fun Fest Day)
Sunday, March 12, 10 AM – 12 PM (Leprechaun Leap Day)
Sunday, April 23, 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
Glider Discovery Day
Upcoming dates:
Sunday, December 11, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, January 22, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, February 19, 11 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, March 26, 11 AM – 12 PM
Wednesday, January 18, 3 PM – 4 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.
