Looping the Loop -- Around the Washington Beltway in 2.5 Hours

A guy from the running club had expressed interest in going for a flight. The weather was looking very good -- clear and sunny. So, Wednesday, we met at Leesburg airport about 9 a.m. and took off eastbound, departing over the northern Potomac River, going over Gaithersburg, and then following a VFR slot at 2000 feet through the space between BWI (Baltimore) and DCA (Reagan National) airports.

We came out over Annapolis, getting nice bright morning views of the City Dock and the Naval Academy, not to mention all the boat docks and big houses on the rivers. Then we crossed the Chesapeake Bay up by the Bay Bridge and then turned down over St. Michaels. We also had to do a turn or two right over Dick Cheney's place along the way, while admiring all the big houses. We flew on down over the Choptank River to Cambridge and landed there, but it turned out that the airport restaurant is closed on Wednesdays. So much for getting coffee there. (See picture of Brian and plane at Cambridge.)

So, we took off again and continued around the south side of DC, passing by Patuxent Naval Air Station, over the Potomac at its widest point, and eventually coming up over Fredricksburg. There I picked up an IFR clearance back to Leesburg from Potomac Air Traffic Control. Since 9/11 pilots have to have some kind of clearance to enter the Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) around Washington, and an IFR clearance is as good as any to do it.

Now usually, they would send me way out to the west of Dulles, out by Winchester and then turn me east in to Leesburg, thus causing me to avoid the big airplanes coming in to IAD. The big iron lands from the north or the south into Dulles runways 01 and 19, mostly.

This time, however -- and I think it was because it was noon and a relatively quiet time for Dulles operations -- the controller sent us up the east side of Dulles Airport at 3000 feet! (See attached picture from the plane over Route 50 with Dulles in the distance).

This meant that we came straight up over Reston and indeed right over our house and Lake Audubon. I could the Reston Town Center clearly, and all the other landmarks. Except for the fact that I had to be flying the plane with some precision, I could have been taking pictures!

Then she (the controller) turned us west over Route 7 and we flew right out to Leesburg, over the quarries, by the outlet mall, and into the airport. A smooth landing on runway 17 finished the flight in just under three hours.

This was a lot of fun, and I think I've got to try to do it again -- with a camera. If it had been a little less hazy, we would have had good views of DC landmarks while crossing north and south of the city. As for getting cleared to fly over Reston, clearly part of the secret is being at the right time of day, sounding like you know what you're doing, and making it easy for the controller to send you up the east side of Dulles.