I was worried that the “Miracle on the Hudson Experience” at the Sullenberger Aviation Museum would be a Disney-like ride, akin to flight-theater attractions that simulate flying over a city.
To my relief, that’s not what the museum experience was about.
“Miracle on the Hudson” refers to the Jan. 15, 2009, incident in which US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of geese, resulting in engine failure. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger managed to land the plane safely in New York’s Hudson River, and all 155 people aboard (150 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots) miraculously survived.
The entire recovered US Airways Flight 1549 Airbus A320 — including the fuselage, wings and tail — is the centerpiece of the recently revamped and much-expanded museum, which is located near Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT).
In addition to seeing the plane, visitors can watch a short documentary about the incident, explore a wide variety of related exhibits and join “passenger talks” where survivors of US Airways Flight 1549 share their stories.
But the museum knows some visitors want more.
“This plane has transitioned from a regular, everyday commercial aircraft to one of the most important and significant aviation artifacts of the 21st century,” said Shelby Dains, collections specialist at the museum.
So, in early 2026, the museum introduced the Miracle on the Hudson Experience, a small-group, guided, interactive tour that shares additional information about the event and its aftermath and allows visitors to ask questions.
“It is not just somebody talking at you for two hours. You have time to discuss all the things that you’re interested in with somebody who’s an expert on the subject,” Dains said. “Everyone also gets a boarding pass that tells a story about a passenger, a first responder or crew member and you follow that person’s story throughout the entire experience.”
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My pretend boarding pass was for Vince Lombardi — not the famed football coach, but the captain of the Thomas Jefferson ferry, which was the first boat on the scene. With his crew, Lombardi rescued 56 people from the freezing water.
During my tour, I was reminded why the Miracle on the Hudson plane was on display in Charlotte rather than at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., or perhaps the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
“We were one of the few museums that had the room and could make a commitment to display the entire plane,” Dains said. “For example, we can allow visitors to see the damage at the back of the plane and the way that the straps used to pull the aircraft out of the Hudson River damaged the skin of the fuselage, as well as other aspects of the recovery.”
Another reason the plane ended up in Charlotte is that US Airways Flight 1549, which was departing from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), was en route to Charlotte, and most of the passengers on board lived or worked there.
One of the most interesting aspects of the tour came at the end, when participants were invited to “glove up” so they could handle some of the recovered items from the flight’s crew and passengers. The artifacts include personal possessions from the pilot (and museum namesake) who recently shared news of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
How to book the Miracle on the Hudson experience
The museum offers these tours on Wednesdays, Fridays and most Saturdays from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Tickets cost $35 (including the $25 general admission fee), and you can purchase them up to two months in advance. Tour groups are limited to 14 people, ages 13 and up, so if you’re making a special trip to visit the museum, it’s a good idea to book ahead.
What else is on display at the Sullenberger Aviation Museum?
While the Miracle on the Hudson aircraft is the centerpiece of the Sullenberger Aviation Museum, there’s a lot more aviation history to see and experience there.
The museum first opened in 1992 as the Carolinas Aviation Museum, displaying a jumble of aircraft and aviation artifacts in one hangar.
That historic WPA-era hangar now houses one gallery of the expanded, rebranded and now Smithsonian-affiliated Sullenberger Aviation Museum; it also displays a historic World War II-era Douglas DC-3 airplane and a variety of aircraft and artifacts related to aviation history in North and South Carolina.
The 35,000-square-foot main exhibit building houses the Miracle on the Hudson airplane as well as more than 30 other aircraft, hundreds of historical artifacts and educational exhibits about the aviation and aerospace industry.
Visitors can also test their flight skills on a variety of aircraft using computer-based flight simulators, design airworthy gliders and other projects in the hands-on, all-ages makerspace and sit in the outdoor bleachers watching planes land and takeoff from CLT and from the Charlotte Air National Guard base next door.
