If you are hunting for a gift for the aviation enthusiast in your life, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) has a few ideas.
EAA’s headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, offers rides in a 1929 Travel Air 4000 bi-plane from May through October. Besides feeling the wind in your face at a thousand feet up, the grass runway makes for a takeoff and landing experience unlike any commercial flight, association officials note.
If an open-air cockpit experience is too extreme, the EAA Museum also offers a MaxFlight full motion simulator. The museum includes more than 200 different aircraft that range from the Wright Brothers era to SpaceShip One. From racing and aerobatic planes to military and homebuilts, the multi-level aviation museum has just about every type of aircraft ever built.
EAA also offers gift admission purchases for its annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh event, the world’s largest fly-in convention, as well as a multitude of gifts from its annual merchandise catalog and online store.