The Right Stuff
Ken Wang introduces us to the Friday Flyers, the Air and Space Museum’s elite corps of docents, who demonstrate the “right stuff” in every visitor interaction.
From left, the Friday Flyers: Kent Wang, John Roosma, Bob Fish, Dick Bentz, Peter Facas, Don Milburn, Bruce Spinney, Tom Kloster, Reggie Prestwood, Les Graham, Robin Erskine, Pat
Nolte, Charles Henkin, Joe Polito, Ernie Snowden, Jim Carboni, Phil Soucy, Ingrid Brock, Bud Holloway, and Marco Vaca.
On any given Friday, visitors to the National Air and Space Museum may go on a tour of the museum led by a pilot, an engineer, an economist, scientist, entrepreneur, financial analyst, chief executive officer, office director, glider, warrior rider or a telecom expert. The “Friday Flyers” are a group of spirited volunteer docents who in their roles as educators draw on their individual experiences to create original, one-of-a-kind tours of the museum’s galleries.
The goal of the Friday Flyers is to provide all visitors with an exciting and engaging experience that gives them a new understanding of the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. The Flyers also are the innovators who brought interactive tours to the museum. Using their individual skills and talents, they helps NASM maintain its reputation as a showplace for the objects that tell the history of aviation and space flight.
Under the leadership of Leslie Graham, the Flyers have developed a dynamic environment of camaraderie and expertise after working together for so long and interacting with visitors from all over the world. Each docent creates a unique theme to serve as the core of his or her tour, offering a fresh perspective for each visitor to ponder questions such as, “How has aviation and spaceflight transformed the world? Why is the Lunar Module one of humanity’s greatest achievements? What was the global impact of Apollo 11?”
With expertise that encompasses hundreds of aircraft, spacecraft and associated artifacts, the Flyers can structure school tours that coordinate teacher preparation, student preparatory and follow-up activities, multiple visits, and close integration with school curricula. The Friday Flyers also strive to create tours and programs for adults that foster an ongoing relationship with the museum and its varied programming.
Leslie Graham, lead docent of NASM’s Friday Flyers – The Right Stuff.
Each member of the volunteer corps is an avowed aviation and space buff who is willing to share a wealth of knowledge with visitors. From the Boeing Milestones Of Flight Hall to the Wright Brothers and The Invention of the Aerial Age, to a hangar at the Sea-Air Operations gallery, any Friday Flyer can tell you where to locate an artifact, everything you’d like to know about it and even where to obtain the best view.
Docents are the front line of museums. They engage with visitors more than any other staff member and have the ability to profoundly shape the museum experience, from providing information that meets each visitor’s unique needs to influencing visitor experiences as they discover the airplanes, spacecraft, and other artifacts held within NASM. The Friday Flyers demonstrate that teamwork is the key to successful outcomes and their enthusiasm sparks advocacy for the dramatic story of aviation and space, from the dawn of aviation to the space age.
Kent Wang has been a volunteer docent at the Air and Space Museum since 1997.
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Posted: 29 May 2018
Just completed a tour with Reggie Prestwood and WOW he certainly had the “right stuff”. He took us from the Wright Brothers 1st flight all the way into Space just 62 miles up. Very interesting and entertaining, thank you!
Never been disappointed with tours at Air & Space Museum AND the Udvar Hazy Museum by Dulles Airport. Awesome docents! They have a wealth of information that is “icing on the cake” for what information is already provided for each exhibit.