MWAA at Washington Dulles (June 2014)
Went to Dulles recently to shoot some afternoon 1R Departures. Was on Parking Garage 1 and after 90 minutes of uneventful shooting getting nothing amazing they came for me. Two MWAA Police cars (one unmarked) rolled up to me. Two officers got out and informed me that a person had called in a suspicious person standing alone on the garage.
They told me that photography is permitted where I was standing, but that I must call in my spotting intentions to Airport Ops. Please advise Airport Ops of your location and how long you'll be there. (703) 572-7777
The MWAA officers were both courteous and understanding of my mistake to not call ops. At no time were they aggressive, bullish, or annoyed. I called ops while they stood by me (officers request) and the man on the other end of the line was appreciative of the call. (Not sure if he already knew about my being up there.)
Before calling it a day I rode down to the Udvar Hazy to get some sunset arrivals on 1R and called ops to let them know I'd be down there. They appreciated the call again. Gates were open to Udvar Hazy and I parked just inside the gate as there are no parking signs outside the gate along the road. Not even 5 minutes later a security guard rolled up and informed me that he'd be closing the gates shortly. (This was around 8pm) He seemed slightly annoyed that someone was there just inside his gate parked with caution lights on. (MWAA ops may have not passed along info about me to Udvar Hazy Security) But he only told me I'd have to leave before he closed the gates. I moved just outside the gate and parked in front of main gate sign. He seemed fine with this as he didn't chase me further away. No activity from authorities on the other side of fence. (Patrolling police, etc) Bagged a golden Air France arrival and called it a day.
Moral: Ring up Ops at Dulles (703) 572-7777) and they'll have your back if some scared citizen calls you in for being an extremist terrorist.
