Welcome to the birthplace of commercial airline flight. Yes, it all started here on January 1st, 1914 when the “aeroplane” was demonstrated as a viable means of commercial transportation with the inaugural flight of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, the world’s first regularly scheduled commercial airline.
To ponder the impact of this feat, fast forward to recent history, where in just over 100 years of commercial aviation progress, more than 38.3 million airline departures in 2019 carried 4.5 billion passengers to their worldwide destinations!
Enjoy your visit to Benoist Plaza, located on the St. Pete Pier, featuring a full-sized sculpture of the Benoist Airboat that pilot Tony Jannus flew on the first airline round-trip from St. Petersburg to Tampa. This exhibit is located on the exact spot that the hanger was located to store the airboat. Be sure to read all of the interesting information placards located in the Plaza. Take a few moments to enjoy the spectacular views at this location.
There is no charge to enter the Pier District, however, there are two (2) parking lots as well as on-street metered parking located on the Pier along Pier Drive. Payment can be made at the Pay Stations within the parking lots, at meters for on- street parking, or via the Park Mobile app. Metered parking is available near this sculpture, but it may be difficult to find an open parking spot on weekends.
The St. Pete Pier opens 30 minutes before sunrise and closes at 11:00 PM
To log this virtual, please do the following:
- On the base of the sculpture, there is a small bronze plaque entitled “Worlds First Airline Monument”. Please email/message the cache owner the 6-word quote at the bottom of the plaque.
- Take a photo of yourself in front of the sculpture (your face is not required to be in the photo) and post the photo along with your log.
I hope you enjoy this bit of aviation history and this beautiful location.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.