best way into D.C. ?

Howdy!

In article ,
Teacherjh wrote:
[snip]

Freeway (W00) is a nice little airport, but I don't know about public
transport, since I was picked up by a friend. I don't think they have any.
But get on airnav.com and call the FBO and ask.

It's several miles to the nearest bus stop in any direction.

yours,
Michael


--
Michael and MJ Houghton | Herveus d'Ormonde and Megan O'Donnelly
| White Wolf and the Phoenix
Bowie, MD, USA | Tablet and Inkle bands, and other stuff
| http://www.radix.net/~herveus/

One thing you didn't mention is that an ADIZ flight plan, filed by telephone
at least one hour in advance, is needed to enter or exit from any of the DC
area airports. An IFR plan doubles as an ADIZ plan, but a standard VFR
flight plan does not.

We wouldn't want to hear about anyone being "escorted" by the Feds.


On 03 May 2004 01:07:02 GMT, (Teacherjh) wrote:

DC is a pain in the tuckus. Been there, done that, will be doing it again.

Dulles (IAD) is actually easy to get into and if you plan your landing right
you can shorten the taxi quite a bit. Take out the airport diagram and find
the GA parking area. Then land (very) long if necessary and you'll be right
there. Not much in the way of public transport, but taxis are available.
Leaving Dulless is another story. You're already at GA parking and will need
to taxi for miles to whatever runway they are using. I taxied an hour once
because they were changing runways. If you have trouble (it looked like I was
going to need an APU) they may not be able to accomodate you. Signature's APUs
were all for jets. Turned out I was able to get it started an hour later.
Leaving IFR they will give you a routing that takes you off the charts, so have
the adjacent IFR charts in the cockpit. Most expensive for gas and tiedown.

Mongommery (GAI) is a nice airport, though I got a lot of water in my fuel
once. I told them about it, and on the return trip the fuel was water-free.
You can walk about a mile to the bus (http://www.rideonbus.com) that will take
you to the Metro. You might even be able to get a ride out; coming back you
can take a taxi from the Metro, or the bus and then walk a mile. It's
uncontrolled, and getting out is no problem (don't forget to squawk and talk
before even thinking about taking off!) There's an RCO for communications.
Inexpensive gas and tiedown.

Coming from the South Manassas Regional/Davis (HEF) is nice. There is a
commuter train (http://www.vre.org) that will take you from the airport right
to Union Station in the middle of town (and a few other places on the way).
There are several trains in in the morning, and two in the afternoon. It takes
an hour and something. If you miss the train (last one is at 5:10p), you're
stuck. Coming back, there are a few in the morning, and several in the
evening. Last train out of Union Station is 6:50p. The train has some sort of
"guaranteed ride" thing which I didn't investigate - it's more for daily
commuters, but anybody can use it once. Or so they say. Something like that.
Moderately priced (for the area) gas and tiedown.

Freeway (W00) is a nice little airport, but I don't know about public
transport, since I was picked up by a friend. I don't think they have any.
But get on airnav.com and call the FBO and ask.

I have not tried Leesburg Executive.

National is also a good choice, and you get a jet fighter as an escort, which
is pretty cool. Parking is extremely expensive, and you may have trouble
getting the plane back. In fact, you may have trouble getting back to the
plane. You get free accomodations, but they are none too ritzy. Use this one
for when the trip is one-way.

Jose

On Mon, 03 May 2004 18:07:23 -0400, Jay Somerset
wrote:

One thing you didn't mention is that an ADIZ flight plan, filed by telephone
at least one hour in advance, is needed to enter or exit from any of the DC
area airports. An IFR plan doubles as an ADIZ plan, but a standard VFR
flight plan does not.

You do not need to file an hour in advance.

I have called in a plan at 9:15 with an ETD of 9:30 and actually taken
off at 9:40 (from inside the ADIZ)

Allegedly, you can file an ADIZ flight plan with FSS from the air, but
I personally have notorious bad luck with Leesburg Radio.

I ran into one of them at the AOPA open house and said 'You guys never
talk to me in the air!' and then one of them turned around and said
'Hey, I know your voice, you always talk too fast!'

So, YMMV, I suppose.

The magic words are 'DC ADIZ' to use with FSS. Leesburg knows what it
is, Altoona is pretty good, and so is Milville.

aw

Thanks for the replies so far... they've been very helpful!

I've actually been to Dulles before, but this time it's a bit far from where
we need to be. Been to Leesburg as well, in August 2003. They (Piedmont I
believe) were just about to move to their new location on the field, but
seemed very friendly and helpful, getting us fueled up while we went out
with some local friends to a restuarant for a couple hours.

I looked on an old sectional, and it seems that Freeway is the closest
available airport to where we need to be (going to a wedding at the
University Club, 16th st & K st). I wonder if it would be easy enough to
find for an out-of-towner... some friends of ours are driving up for the
wedding as well, and they might be able to give us a lift from the airport
if we coordinate in advance. I'll try calling the FBO tomorrow to see what
they think.

Thanks again for the help!

--
Guy Elden Jr.

Flying is definitely better than driving to DC.

Flying is definitely better than driving to DC.


You betcha!!!!!

On Sun, 2 May 2004 23:32:28 -0400, "Guy Elden Jr."
wrote:
I looked on an old sectional, and it seems that Freeway is the closest
available airport to where we need to be (going to a wedding at the
University Club, 16th st & K st). I wonder if it would be easy enough to
find for an out-of-towner... some friends of ours are driving up for the
wedding as well, and they might be able to give us a lift from the airport
if we coordinate in advance. I'll try calling the FBO tomorrow to see what
they think.

If you're going downtown downtown, almost all the airports are equally
useless (except for the VA ones, they are probably more useless, and
College Park, which is on the metro).

I drive by 16th & K every day to go to work...

Your post says 'in a couple of weeks', so I'll let you know that the
FME runway is going to be closed for resurfacing from approximately
5/10 to 5/22 or thereabouts.

If you're into making multiple public transit jumps, you could try
Suburban (W18) and taxi to MARC Laurel to Union Station and then metro
to... Farragut North maybe? I dunno, still a lot of hopping I guess.
Also, the MARC doesn't run on weekends or in the middle of the day or
any other convienent time. Probably faster to taxi from W18 to
Greenbelt Metro, I suppose.

So your question probably becomes, which is the easiest airport -
Metro transfer?

GAI - Shady Grove
W00 - New Carrolton
W18/FME (they're practically nextdoor) - Greenbelt

IAD - Vienna

On the other point, it looks like the Washington Flyer doesn't
actually go downtown - www.washfly.com.

aw

"aaronw" wrote in message ...

If you're going downtown downtown, almost all the airports are equally
useless (except for the VA ones, they are probably more useless, and
College Park, which is on the metro).

You can't go into College Park unless you're got the special DC3 authorization.
So your question probably becomes, which is the easiest airport -
Metro transfer?

GAI - Shady Grove
W00 - New Carrolton
W18/FME (they're practically nextdoor) - Greenbelt

IAD - Vienna

Actually, for IAD, the best shot is West Falls Church. There's a motor coach that takes
you directly there.

I need to go to northern Maryland (actually Andrews AFB) next month and am
also looking for airports close by. I need at least 3500 feet of runway for
the Baron, and would like hangar space as well.

I was thinking of Manassas- how does this compare to Dulles?

Are there any airports in northern MD that also might fit the bill?

Thanks.

Your runway eliminates any of the suburban fields south of BWI.

Maybe Easton (KESN)? - Eastern shore and drive over the Bay Bridge,
through Annapolis to Andrews. Friendly types over there and you could
avoid driving the Beltway. It's just outside the ADIZ.

Further out: Cambridge (south of ESN), KMTN (east of Baltimore)

Best of luck.
Walt


Viperdoc wrote:
I need to go to northern Maryland (actually Andrews AFB) next month and am
also looking for airports close by. I need at least 3500 feet of runway for
the Baron, and would like hangar space as well.

I was thinking of Manassas- how does this compare to Dulles?

Are there any airports in northern MD that also might fit the bill?

Thanks.