The Museum of Aeronautical Sciences—a family-friendly spot right by Narita Airport where you can try out your flight skills!
Full of surprises and entertainment! Let’s go try the flight simulator at an experience and inquiry-based museum where you can learn while having fun!
If you are using Narita Airport, we definitely recommend visiting The Museum of Aeronautical Sciences located right next to the airport. Only a 15 minutes’ bus ride from the airport, the museum attracts many aircraft fans not only in Japan, but also from around the world. In this article, we would like to talk about the attractive features of the museum.
First, take the path resembling the Narita Airport runway and leading to the building, and head to the reception. A variety of interior elements, such as huge airplane hanging banners and benches that are used in the airport, hype up the mood. The museum offers a wide variety of experiences. The experiences sometimes get fully booked on weekends, so it is recommended that you make reservations for each one as soon as you get there.
As you follow the designated route, an impressive view appears with a gigantic Boeing 747 engine, a cross section of an airplane body, an airplane model, and so on. The engine and the cross section are from an actual jumbo jet, allowing you to look at the internal structure that you can’t usually see. Here you can even move the large airplane model. If you have made a reservation at the reception, you can control it from the cockpit set up in the middle of the stairs leading to the second floor. We highly recommend that you experience the excitement of moving an enormous airplane by yourself using a yoke.
Huge hanging banners welcome you at the reception
A controllable gigantic model of a Boeing 747
The cross section of the body makes it easy to understand the airplane’s structure
After having fun controlling an airplane, let’s head to the second floor. There you will find a chronological table of the 100-year history of aircraft since its invention, as well as 300 models on display. There is another section that introduces Narita Airport. It lets you discover different aspects of the airport and includes an airport diorama, jobs of airport personnel, various airport initiatives, and international airlines that use the airport.
The outdoor exhibition space houses the nose of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. If you have made a reservation at the reception, you can take a guided tour, get onboard, observe, and learn about the airplane structure, etc. The tour also provides you with information that you can’t learn from the simulator, such as the wheel-well structure, and how to open/close emergency doors.
Seeing a jumbo jet in person will take your breath away!
The museum even has a simulator for more realistic flight operation experience! The simulator lets you operate a Boeing 737-MAX and a Boeing 777. The sky of Narita displayed on the screen looks so realistic. Bring out your inner pilot and land the airplane onto the Narita Airport runway.
The Narita Airport landing simulator
Moreover, retired airplanes and helicopters are lined up in the outdoor space, and you can freely get on some of them. YS-11, the very first commercial airplane made in Japan after WWII, exhibited here is the first prototype, which succeeded in its first flight in 1962, and it was registered as an Aerospace Technology and Engineering Heritage in 2024. The valuable aircraft is a must-see.
The valuable first prototype of YS-11 (Middle)
The Museum of Aeronautical Sciences lets you enjoy the multifaceted fascination of the aircraft industry. The visual and tactile experience and learnings at the museum will definitely make your flight from Narita Airport even more enjoyable.
■DATA The Museum of Aeronautical Sciences Address: 111-3 Iwayama, Shibayama-cho, Sambu District Admission: Adult ¥700 Junior high and high schoolers ¥300 Children (4 and up) ¥200 Group discount (20 people or more) 10% *Reservation required for individual paid experiences. Official website:https://www.aeromuseum.or.jp/ Official Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/aeromuseum3416/?hl=ja (Information as of January 2025)
＜Related articles＞
