Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum

We are pleased to announce the inclusion of artifacts from the second-generation Flying Eye Hospital DC-10 aircraft in a new permanent exhibition that opened October 14, 2022, at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. An example of humanitarian flight that combines innovations in medicine and aviation, we will be featured in the new "Thomas W. Haas We All Fly" exhibition, which celebrates the breadth and depth of general aviation and its deep impact on society.

The exhibit features a simulator from the Flying Eye Hospital – the world's only fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital on board a plane – now currently in its third generation on an MD-10 aircraft. The simulator was used to train eye care professionals on cataract surgery, the leading cause of blindness in the world. We have adopted simulation training, much in the same way that pilots learn to fly planes through simulation, to allow eye care teams to build their skills and confidence safely before progressing to real-life surgeries.

We also joined the GE Aviation Lecture Series in a live conversation titled "The Flying Eye Hospital: Medicine Meets Aviation."

During the conversation, our Vice President of Clinical Services and Technologies, Dr. Hunter Cherwek, and Director of Aircraft Operations and Maintenance, Bruce Johnson, gave an insider's view into what it is like to work on one of the world's most unique aircrafts and what is ahead for our fight against avoidable blindness. The conversation will be moderated by Dorothy Cochrane, Curator of the Aeronautics Department at the Smithsonian Institution. Watch below!