Aviation Center is now open, joining Boeing Tour in Everett, 20 miles north of Seattle. The 73,000-square-foot commercial jet interpretive center is located at the western edge of the Paine Field airstrip, directly across from Boeing’s largest jet assembly plant.

The center features a 28,000-square-foot aviation gallery with interactive exhibits on commercial aviation, a theater and a 9,000-square-foot rooftop observation deck allowing visitors to view take-offs and landings.

Tours of the nearby Boeing plant, which begin and end at the center, feature a 90-minute guided exploration of the largest building in the world (by volume) where Boeing’s 747, 767 and 777 are built. Visitors will see airplanes in various stages of production and flight test prior to the planes being delivered to customers around the world.

Boeing joined with the Future of Flight Foundation and other partners because it allowed the jet manufacturer to expand its tour operations. Since opening in 1968, the Boeing Tour Center has hosted more than two million visitors from around the globe.

A spectacular four-minute presentation introduces viewers to future concepts, which may be used to assemble new aircraft such as Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner composite aircraft. Projected on an advanced display screen, the 3d HoloProjection™ video opens with the beginnings of flight, an eagle soaring over a forest landscape. Then as an aircraft takes shape, the tip of the jet’s wing glides right in front of each participant’s face. The screen then disappears, as the jet’s nose looks visitors directly in the eye.

The Future of Flight Aviation Center is open daily, except Thanksgiving (the last Thursday in November), Christmas (December 25) and New Year’s Day (January 1), from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Advance tickets are available for guaranteed tour times. For safety’s sake, children must be at least four-feet tall to take the factory tour and visitors may not carry babies on the tour.