Washington DC question

N747JB

N747JB

Final Approach
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John
I have a meeting in November in DC, I am taking the wife and my two sons. I need to fly myself if possible to have my youngest back at school on the day we return. We can go commercial if we need to, but it's just easier to pick him up and drop him off in Athens.
I haven't flown into the DC area since 9/11, what is the best airport for access to downtown? We are staying at the Fairmont, which is pretty close to where all the lying and cheating goes on. :D
Thanks
 
College Park is the one by a metro. But you can't fly in there without a FRZ clearence and that's not possible to get just for a flight in.

Same for VKX and Hyde, which are both only a $20 uber away from the city. Both are inside the FRZ.

There's no easy way to fly into DC anymore if you aren't a local and vetted.
 
Manassas (KHEF) is on the VRE rail line into town, but VRE runs a few trains in the morning and one in the afternoon. They do have rental cars, however, and the drive by highway.

Dulles (IAD) and Leesburg (JYO) both have rental cars and the drive in is by highway, though JYO is on a toll road.

All are in the SFRA but not the FRZ, so you need to file a flight plan ahead of time. File IFR and it's easy.

Take the Washington DC SFRA online training - it's required.
 
If you have an instrument rating, you won't even notice the SFRA being there. Fly into IAD or HEF and catch a taxi or rent a car into town. Driving around DC is a nightmare though if you haven't done it before. If you want to avoid the SFRA all together, you can go into RMN (Stafford) and take a rental car... Beware... traffic stinks On I-95S basically anytime after 1pm, especially on Fridays.

My personal recommendation.. either airline in or fly into IAD to make things easy.
 
Dulles is your best bet. DC is a PITA, Dulles will minimize it to the greatest extent possible.
 
The airport no one mentions is 2W5. To me, that'd be the easiest. It's in Southern MD and the traffic is nowhere near as bad as the VA side of things.

It's only about a 35 minute drive from DC. That'll be shorter then Dulles or HEF and the facilities will be much cheaper, including fuel. It's a straight shot north into DC and you come in on the SE side where traffic isn't nearly as bad.

Whether you could rent a car there is another story.
 
You can fly into leesburg without filing a ifr flight plan. They have you set transponder to 1226 and fly direct in and out.
 
Even if you file IFR you're still suppose to do the SFRA training.
 
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I'd rather not rent a car, I'd rather pay $100 each way for Uber than $50 per day for a car and another $50 per day for parking! :mad2:
I've flown into Dulles before, but it was 15-18 years ago, it doesn't look like it's gotten any cheaper! :D
 
I'd fly into Reagan (DCA) before Dulles. From there it's an easy metro or cab ride into DC.
 
GAI and take metro in, or HEF and take VRE in.
 
John....GAI and a short 3-4mi cab to the metro is the easiest non-rental car way to go.

Just file IFR to GAI.....and never squawk 1200, not even on the ground, or there will be a violation. But, when you take the SFRA training online you'll get that.

Keep in mind, I'm the master of cheap. So, this is the cheapest way into DC, but, not the quickest. The metro ride will take a good hour to the stops you're looking for.

For the quickest outside the FRZ, Dulles and an Uber ride into town, but you already knew that....and it's also the most expensive. :D
 
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N747JB said:
I'd
I've flown into Dulles before, but it was 15-18 years ago, it doesn't look like it's gotten any cheaper! :D
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What has gotten cheaper is the ride to the disttict
$20 cab to Wiehle Ave metro, $3.75 from there.
 
Good, quick or cheap, pick two! :)

Checkout_my_Six said:
John....GAI and a short 3-4mi cab to the metro is the easiest non-rental car way to go.

Just file IFR to GAI.....and never squawk 1200, not even on the ground, or there will be a violation. But, when you take the SFRA training online you'll get that.

Keep in mind, I'm the master of cheap. So, this is the cheapest way into DC, but, not the quickest. The metro ride will take a good hour to the stops you're looking for.

For the quickest outside the FRZ, Dulles and an Uber ride into town, but you already knew that....and it's also the most expensive. :D
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Another vote for GAI. Keep in mind that the one hour Metro ride is often the fastest and cheapest way to get to DC. A car ride from IAD can easily take far more than an hour, particularly during rush hour. You can add to that the air delays and long taxi times at IAD. IAD is like a black hole on both air side and land side.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
FWIW....I work in DC and I don't take the metro. :no::D
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In 40 years of operation, one guy got murdered on the train, and that was last month. Out of all places in DC, the metro is probably one of the safest.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
FWIW....I work in DC and I don't take the metro. :no::D
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I'll likely be reassigned further into the district than I am now and doing the basic research it appears that a bike rental program is cheaper and almost as quick even with reimbursement.
 
weilke said:
In 40 years of operation, one guy got murdered on the train, and that was last month. Out of all places in DC, the metro is probably one of the safest.
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Yup...It's safe alright....just not the fastest. I carpool in daily and park in a garage.
 
Bonchie said:
The airport no one mentions is 2W5. T
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2W5 used to be a wasteland, but you can get Enterprise there.

We spent a week at EZF / Shannon a few weeks ago. This place used to be an armpit, but they've completely turned it around. Everything's repaved, the FBO's cleaned and responsive. 24 hours fuel...24 hour access to the rest room, cute little soda fountain.
 
Mike5250 said:
You can fly into leesburg without filing a ifr flight plan. They have you set transponder to 1226 and fly direct in and out.
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You don't need an IFR plan for any part of the SFRA. I regularly go into Dulles VFR.
 
tsts4 said:
I'd fly into Reagan (DCA) before Dulles. From there it's an easy metro or cab ride into DC.
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Ain't know way you're going GA into DCA. Even a FRZ clearance won't do it.
 
flyingron said:
Ain't know way you're going GA into DCA. Even a FRZ clearance won't do it.
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Unless you can pony up the $$ for a TSA ASO on board! (And go through lots of other hoops)
 
Don't you also have to be turbine powered? I'm probably wrong, but thats just what I've heard
 
JC150 said:
Don't you also have to be turbine powered? I'm probably wrong, but thats just what I've heard
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No, but if you aren't, you probably can justify the cost of flying into DCA vice IAD, HEF, or GAI.
 
flyingron said:
Ain't know way you're going GA into DCA. Even a FRZ clearance won't do it.
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I ment commercial not GA. I'm based at KHEF and IMO a cheap ticket into DCA for access into DC (both in terms of time and money) can't be beat.
 
Henning said:
Ok, that had me wondering, because I thought DCA wasn't possible GA since 9/11.
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You have to be based there. There's a local Pastor that has a Meridian (or Saratoga, not 100% sure) there.
 
Jaybird180 said:
You have to be based there. There's a local Pastor that has a Meridian (or Saratoga, not 100% sure) there.
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No, you don't have to be based there. You do have to pass through a gateway airport inbound to DCA though. The requirements are listed at the bottom of this page:

https://www.tsa.gov/stakeholders/security-programs-and-initiatives

TSA inspection of crew and passengers;
TSA inspection of property (accessible and checked) and aircraft;
The start and end dates of flight must be indicated on the TSA flight authorization;
Identification checks of passengers by TSA;
Submission of passenger and crew manifests 24 hours in advance of flight;
Enhanced background checks for all passengers and fingerprint based criminal history records check (CHRC) for flight crew;
Armed Security Officer (ASO) on board each flight. Click here for more information on the Armed Security Officer program;
All operations are subject to cancellation at any time;
All unscheduled operations to/from KDCA require an FAA slot reservation. Please obtain an FAA slot reservation through the FAA ARO website: www.fly.faa.gov/ecvrs/index.html
 
You carry an ASO who is not a pilot who has to shoot the pilot in the event of a problem.
 
Dulles ramp fees are not bad for a single engine, but I haven't tried it. I have tried Manassas and Gathersburg.

Manassas VA is good for renting a car. Gaithersburg is less good for renting a car -- there is only Enterprise, and they did not honor my employers's Enterprise contract deal "because we do a full delivery" to that airport. That's what the Enterprise guy said, when I phoned to ask about the bad rate and terms.

If you want into the FRZ, it is getting easier to get the PIN. For example ypu can get fingerprinted at your local law enforcement instead of at Reagan. Phone the airport manager at College Park to ask. I'm just getting started applying.
 
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