National Soaring Museum

Owner was super nice and friendly. For a small town attraction had plenty to see and admission was very reasonable.

I took my wife and 5-​year old up to the Elmira/​Ithaca/​Binghamton area for the July 4^th weekend of 2014, and we were looking for family-​friendly (especially 5-​year old-​friendly) activities to do during the day. We came upon the National Soaring Museum online and decided to give it a shot.
The NSM is basically a hall-​of-​fame for gliding. They have a big hangar-​looking facility with a ton of various gliders, trucks, etc. from all sorts of eras and places. There are a couple for the little ones to climb in and touch, as well. Admission is inexpensive — my notes say $ 7.50 for adults and children over 6 years old. If you’re into gliders and aircraft, I’m sure you can stay in the museum for longer, but if you’re just looking for things to see/​do, I would say book 1 to 2 hours for this museum. There are a couple of videos that go into gliding a bit more (I was completely unaware of gliding before this museum), some interactive kiosks, and a lot of gliders to check out.
The land it’s on is beautiful. It’s located right next to a hangar where people come to glide and/​or to learn how to fly a glider. It’s located on top of a mountain, so it really is spectacular. A glider was up in the air while we were there, so it was nice to look up and see the activity in action.
The NSM would make a nice, family-​friendly addition to any trip to this area of NYS.