Photograph courtesy of The City of Saint Petersburg.

Photograph courtesy of The City of Saint Petersburg.

The Flight 2014 foundation selected MGA created a 1:1 (life-sized) replica of a Benoist Airboat to install at the base of St. Petersburg’s new pier.

This sculpture commemorates the world’s first ever commercial flight, which traversed the Tampa Bay as the first flight of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. Piloted by Tony Jannus, the Benoist airboat - what we would now call a seaplane - departed on January 1st, 1914 from St. Petersburg’s shore. This remarkable airboat made history right off the shores of MGA’s hometown so we created a sculpture befitting of the event.

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First Flight specs:

Medium: Stainless Steel

Dimensions: 46’ W x 27’ L x 28’ H

Weight: 16,000 pounds

Completion: 2020

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Behind The Scenes

Creating public art involves project timelines, from pitch to concept development, proposal, engineering, fabrication and install.

Take a peek at the process of creating First Flight.