Rarely do people have a chance to climb into the cockpit of a historic aircraft, but that’s exactly what’s on offer this weekend at the B.C. Aviation Museum. The museum’s annual Open Cockpit Day returns Feb. 15 and 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., giving visitors a chance to access the flight decks and cabins of several vintage planes and chat with museum volunteers about the aircraft’s past. The admission-by-donation event gave the chance for attendees to tour a total of eight models, including the iconic red and white Hawaii Mars, a cherished resident of the museum since 2024. Now in its third year, the event expanded to two days after drawing thousands last year, with assistant director Emma McGugan calling the response “phenomenal” for what has quickly become a community favourite. “Normally we don’t let people into the cockpit, so it’s a fun opportunity to have people learn about what it means to sit inside and see all the instruments and just have that feeling beyond just looking at the aircraft,” she said. Among the attendees were Melissa Weber and Matt Wierzbicki who made the long drive from the East Kootenays exclusively to partake in this annual event. Matt Wierzbicki and Melissa Weber from the East Kootenays visited the museum on Feb. 15. (Olivier Laurin/Peninsula News Review) “I saw it online and I thought I would come here because they’re featuring so many interesting planes, especially the Hawaii Mars, which is probably the star of the whole show,” said Weber. Currently doing her pilot license, Weber explained that this opportunity was a one-of-a-kind for her, who has been a long-time plane enthusiast, wishing one day to fly a float plane like the Hawaii Mars. The event also offered visitors the chance to connect with like-minded volunteers who shared in-depth knowledge about the aircraft, their purpose and the engineering behind them. “When you get on a plane nowadays, you just kind of walk in, sit, and that’s it,” said Wierzbicki. “You’re not really getting the history and how things used to be back in the day.” Wishing to have this institution a bit closer to home, Weber described the museum as a provincial gem. “I’ve always heard that Victoria’s got all the planes,” she said. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got to go check it out and see if that’s true,’ and it’s absolutely right.” McGugan said the event also serves as a fundraiser to support future projects, including upgrades to the parking lot and plans to build another hangar. “We’ve grown so much in the last couple of years and we have a few projects that we really want to tackle, including our car park so that we can have more people be able to come,” she said. “And we’re hoping to build another hangar in the future as well, so those things are big projects coming up.” McGugan added that every donation will help preserve British Columbia’s aviation history for generations to come. “British Columbia is such a remote province, so without aircraft, so much is inaccessible,” she said. “So aviation has played a huge role in the history of the province.” To know more about the B.C. Aviation Museum and to donate, visit bcam.net .
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