Hercules Pavilion at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon [Credit: Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum/Robert Zeh]
Key Takeaways:
The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum (EASM) has completed an internal "reset" to enhance visitor interaction with its aircraft displays.
This involves removing physical barriers for closer access, rearranging exhibits by aircraft role or generation to illustrate design evolution, and highlighting popular aircraft like the "Spruce Goose" and SR-71.
The museum also aims to foster deeper emotional connections with its collection, notably by installing a Vietnam memorial around its Huey Dustoff medical helicopter, coinciding with its 25th anniversary celebrations.
The museum has just undergone what EASM CEO Scot Laney calls “a reset” to enhance visitors’ interaction with the aircraft on display by removing as many chains and barriers as possible but still maintaining safety—for example, to avoid hitting your head.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
![Hercules Pavilion at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon [Credit: Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum/Robert Zeh]](https://www.flyingmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Hercules-pavilion.jpeg)
