Charlotte Douglas International Airport an aviation library with over 9,000 volumes and a very extensive photography collection. Rare aircraft in the collection include one of only two surviving Douglas D-558 Skystreak aircraft and the second (and oldest surviving) U.S.-built Harrier, which was used as the flight-test aircraft and accumulated over 5,000 flight-test hours. In January 2011, the museum acquired N106US, the US Airways Airbus A320 ditched by captain Chesley Sullenberger as US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. This aircraft, which was delivered on June 10, 2011, is about 35 years younger than any other commercial airliner on display
Kenya Airways Flight 431 Kenya Airways Flight 431 Kenya Airways Flight 431 was an international scheduled Abidjan–Lagos–Nairobi passenger service, operated with an Airbus A310-300, that crashed into the sea off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire on 30 January 2000, shortly after takeoff from Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport, Abidjan. There were 179 people on board, of whom 169 were passengers. Only ten people survived in what was the first fatal accident for Kenya Airways. The aircraft involved in the accident was an Airbus A310-304, registration 5Y-BEN, named "Harambee Star". With c/n 426, the airframe entered service with Kenya Airways in . The aircraft had logged