The Story
Parked between two Falls Church City office buildings is a unique plane you won’t find at any airport.
This six-foot tall statue is covered entirely in pennies. 14,000 of them, to be exact!
Created in early 2008 by artist Courtney S. Hengerer of Alexandria, Virginia, the artwork is named 'Pennies from Heaven.'
This plane was part of the Crystal City Business Improvement District’s 'statue event' campaign.
To honor Crystal City’s connection to flight, 50 artistic plane statues were commissioned, including this one.
After the campaign ended, BB&T bank bought the 'Pennies from Heaven' plane and moved it to its current location at Falls Church Corporate Center.
Most of the pennies are glued with Lincoln’s head showing...
...but if you look closely at the tail, they’re tails up!
The airplanes are made of urethane resin.
Courtney: Each penny was put on one by one with glue. I previously did mosaics and liked piecing things together. It’s monotonous but meditative.
To fit a penny on a curved surface, Courtney used pliers to bend it.
People brought little bags of pennies to Courtney while she worked in a public space in Crystal City.
The statues were unveiled in April 2008. Courtney checked on her statue periodically, gluing more pennies if any fell off.
Crystal Flight lasted about two years. Some planes remained in Crystal City, with two inside the Crystal City BID’s office.
Next time you’re in Falls Church, don’t miss this penny plane. A true piece of art and aviation history!
