Best of Budapest & Hungary

A night airport visit, an aviation talk show, special airport vehicles and oldtimers, career guidance activities and demonstrations, and an open-air cinema will be on offer on Airport Night at the Ferihegy Aeropark Aviation Museum in Budapest on Saturday.

    One of the evening's highlights at the site next to the Ferenc Liszt International Airport will be the start-up of the 1,900-horsepower engine of the 66-year-old Il-14 airliner. The demonstration will start at 18.00 and 20.00 hrs. Visitors will also have the opportunity to see how a small jet engine works and the experts of the museum will also operate the engine of the legendary Kamov 26 helicopter.

    They added that this year's Airport Night will also include several new elements: pilot schools will be set up in the Aviation Museum, where expert instructors will show the path from gliders to the cockpit of today's large passenger aircraft, and will also tell about the careers that await those who choose this profession.

    Hungarocontrol will have a special stand where visitors will be given a behind-the-scenes tour of air traffic control. Those interested in the repair and maintenance of today's modern aircraft will also be able to take a look at the hangars of Aeroplex of Central Europe at Ferihegy.

    In addition to the special airport vehicles, visitors will be able to see giant snow blowers, snow ploughs and two de-icing vehicles, and will also be shown how passenger aircraft are thoroughly de-iced before take-off on cold, wet winter dawns.

    In the evening, the cockpits of historic aircraft will come to life and museum staff will install decades-old instruments and radios. On board, active and retired pilots, flight attendants and technicians will talk about how the aviation industry has evolved over the decades.

    Visitors can meet Captain Zsolt Szüle, who works on one of the world's largest aircraft, Gergely Hajdu, who pilots one of the world's most modern airliners, and Dóra Józsa, who spent almost her entire career as a stewardess, Captain Attila Leposa, who made one of the most interesting emergency landings in Malév's history in a Tu-134, and Captain Sándor Horváth, whose favorite type to this day is the Tu-154, which first appeared in Hungary 50 years ago. 

    There are also themed walks, vintage cars at the airport, the museum's aircraft simulators, and in the evening, part of the park is transformed into an open-air cinema, where two episodes of the legendary Airport series are shown, the summary says.