DC Area airports/hangars

Will Kumley

Will Kumley

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Aug 6, 2019
Messages
796
Location
Pacific Northwest
Display Name
Will
It appears it's time for Uncle Sam to consider my next job location in the military. I'm currently in Washington state and have our little Colt in a Hangar about 45 minutes away from where I live. There is a possibility I'll get to stay here and just extend my time in the area, but there is a possibility I'll be asked to move to the east coast. DC and Pax River, MD are the two east coast options with a higher probability for the DC area. As in, the heart of DC. Looking at sky vector I see there are some airports nearby, but does anyone on here have PIREP on GA friendly airports in the DC area? I already know that I'll have to educate myself on DC area flying and that doesn't concern me, it's the idea of finding a new location to store the plane and hopefully get a hangar. Airparks are also not out of the question if I am able to either rent a hangar from someone there or actually live at the airpark if it's within my budget.
 
If you end up at Pax, your best bet would be St Mary's County, 2W6. Not sure what the hangar situation is currently, but worth checking. If you're looking to buy in that area, Chesapeake Ranch Estates, MD50, might be an option. We have a couple customers that live there. I can't speak to availability, but Potomac, VKX, is reasonably close to the city but requires the SFRA PIN. Maryland airport, 2W5, isn't much further, but gets you out of the PIN requirement, as does Manassas, HEF, and Leesburg, JYO.

I retired out of Pax, but live in Northern VA, based at Tappahannock, XSA.
 
How long is your rotation? Close to DC, you might be waiting a while for a hangar. Maybe the situation is better by 2W6/XSA.

PM me when you figure out when/where you'll be...
 
I'm local to 2W6. The hangar situation isn't any better. Expect a 2-3 year wait for a hangar and last I heard about $800 a month in rent.
 
If you are actually in DC, KCGS is a good option although they only have outdoor tie down. It's within the FRZ so you'll have to get fingerprinted, etc, but the process isn't long or onerous. The best thing is that it's a five minute walk from the Green Line metro station at College Park, so you don't have to battle DC traffic to go flying.
 
Getting the FRZ pin is no big deal, and gives you local flying freedoms that non pins lack.
KCGS, Shortly after 911, they created a dollar a year lease for non based aircraft, so they could get a pin. They did not get an actual tiedown spot, but paid transient fees as they would before 911. If they say that is no longer done, do not insist, you may displace existing holders with auto renew. The manager has changed 3 times since that feature was invented to get non based planes back to the gas pumps.

KCGS has no hangers or on field mechanics, but does have fuel.
Paved tiedown may be available.
It is relatively secure, since the police are based there for their aircraft. :)
 
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Without knowing where you live, it’s hard to give a recommendation. Your best bet is close to home, and close to work. I live in Alexandria and I’ve been based at VKX for the last 16 years and it’s great, it’s the antithesis of the sterile, county owned, fenced-up jetports that are more common in surrounding areas of major U.S. cities. That said, VKX is unique regarding hangars…there is no waitlist. Every time a hangar comes up for rent, it’s auctioned off based on your bid for the monthly rent. As we do have a fair amount of .mil folks here there is turnover, so your chance of getting a hangar is pretty good provided you’re not bidding against John D. Rockefeller for space for your spam can.

If you're going to be based at Pax, find a place at Chesapeake Ranch or wait it out at St. Mary’s Co.
 
I'm based at 2W6 and would be happy to answer any questions you might have. It's very easy to get in and out of both driving and flying if you are based out of Pax River. Hangar wait times were sub 1-year when I got mine and a coworker just got one in a similar timeframe. My hangar is approx $450 a month. Another coworker rents a space at Chesapeake Ranch and says it's a fairly easy operation. They have an agreement with the base for departures and arrivals. The airspace looks like a mess but operating around the restricted areas is largely a nonevent.
 
Another option is to live further out and use commuter train/bus/van pool.

I worked in DC for some 30 years and live north east of Baltimore.
 
I'll definitely these in mind. I've told the parties concerned that either option works for me so we will see if I'm headed to the east coast or not. The sad thing is I won't likely know until Nov/Dec so I'm in the waiting stage at this point.
 
Will Kumley said:
I'll definitely these in mind. I've told the parties concerned that either option works for me so we will see if I'm headed to the east coast or not. The sad thing is I won't likely know until Nov/Dec so I'm in the waiting stage at this point.
Click to expand...
It's (almost) never too early to get on hangar wait lists.

Nauga,
former 2W6er
 
nauga said:
It's (almost) never too early to get on hangar wait lists.

Nauga,
former 2W6er
Click to expand...
When the Navy moved me to the Pacific Northwest I got on a waitlist as soon as I had a verbal that I was coming here, before hard copy orders were written, funded, or signed. I ended up with a Hangar about 2 months prior to arrival and happily paid for 2 extra months to ensure I had a place to keep our old fabric covered plane out of the elements. The hangar wasn't much as it looked like an old post war building placed directly on the grass. Over the years the grass was replaced with gravel and large carpets to create some form of a floor. About 2 months after getting here another hangar came available from a private owner looking to rent it out. The floor is epoxied concrete and the hangar is sealed much better with better lighting. We easily made the move and I haven't looked back. If we move I'm sure he'll have no issues renting it out to another pilot in the area. If we don't move, we've still got an awesome hangar to keep the Colt clean, dry, and out of the PNW weather.
 
I was at VKX on 9/11 and probably could have gotten a hangar there pretty easily. But I had relocated to OKV when they let us evacuate from there. I was in the first group to get cleared back into the DC-3. But a hangar became available at CJR and that's where my mechanic is, so it was convenient (and since I was starting from Chantilly, it wasn't that much more of a drive). Back when I bought my plane, I kept it at IAD for the first few years.
 
When I worked at NIH on two different occasions for a full year, I based out of GAI. Friendly airport, and the manager could always find me a good tie down spot that wasn't a long hike from the terminal. Good maintenance on-field, too. It's not a long ride to the Shady Grove Metro line if you want to do public transport. It's a little more convenient if you live on the north side of DC (I was in Rockville near the Twinbrook station.) GAI was about a 20-25 minute drive from Twinbrook, not bad in DC traffic time units.
 
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