IAD and DCA 3.25.08 *56k NO!!*

[nwafan20]

Well, thanks to the Baltimore/Washington spotter group member Rafal, Nick and I were hinted that ANA was bringing in the Star Alliance 773 this morning (we caught the regular colors the day before, I will post the shots from the other days later). Now, we couldn't miss that! So we packed up and headed out to IAD and got there around 15 mins. before he touched down. There were several other spotters there. There was Balt/Wash members Rafal and Bryan (more about him later), and 3 British spotters who were recording tail numbers.

Finally, ANA came in, we shot some pictures of that and some other planes till around noon. Nick and I mentioned that we were going to take the bus and subway to National to go spotting there, and Bryan offered to drive us there since he was going to go anyway. We obviously accepted this offer and we were off to National.

At National we had a GREAT day! At National Nick, myself, and Bryan were met by another Balt/Wash spotter who I can't remember the name of. They were using runway 19 and thus River Visual 19 approach. This is the one where they have to avoid the White House and Pentagon by flying down the Potomac River making sharp banks along the way.

There is a GREAT park on the approach to 19 where the planes are literally 20 feet above your head, it was awesome! Some idiots were flying kites in the approach path to 19 and Bryan just called up airport ops and told them about it and a cop was out there in 5 minutes. I tell ya, it is incredible the relationship that group has with the airport authorities!

Unfortunately we missed the first Frontier A320 (Frontier operates 2 A320's, both go into DCA) by 10 mins (we saw it on approach), as it was like 45 minutes early, so I had to settle for a slightly backlit ground shot of it. The other one I got a pretty good shot of.

We also caught 4 US Airways special schemes; Star Alliance, Pittsburgh Steelers, Allegheny, and my personal favorite PSA!!!!

On to some shots:

IAD:

ANA Star Alliance 777-300ER


Sun Country


Korean 744:


some biz jets:






DCA shots:



















DL new colors 757:


Frontier:



US Airways special schemes:





As a bonus, we all got a laugh out of this guy walking a whole bunch of dogs:

[wunaladreamin]

Egadz Matt! That's like 90% of all US Scareways specials! Great shooting bro.

[adam613]

Nice shots!

And don't make fun of the dog-walker, he was probably making like $200/hr doing that!

[nwafan20]

Thanks for the kind words.

We weren't laughing at the dog walker, we were laughing at him getting pulled along by all those dogs!

[flyboy 28]

Some idiots were flying kites in the approach path to 19 and Bryan just called up airport ops and told them about it and a cop was out there in 5 minutes. I tell ya, it is incredible the relationship that group has with the airport authorities!

Woah woah woah, a spotter calling the cops on someone else? :lol:

Good spread Matt. Sorry I couldn't make it down there, I've had to work every day of break.

[cancidas]

a DL Shuttle mad dog? strange...

[lijk604]

Great mix there Matt...only pushes me more to make a trip to IAD.

[Gerard]

>There is a GREAT park on the approach to 19 where the planes are literally 20 feet above your head, it was awesome! <

That is called "Gravelly Point" and YES it is a fantastic place to hang out HASSLE FREE to watch and spot. My wife is
from the DC/Md. area and we usually go down there once a year (more when the kids were younger) and I always
made it a point to hang out there for an hour or more. You can also see the military helicopters flying up and down the
Anacostia and the far side of the Potomac. I also go over to DC03 the "Eagles Nest" in Anacostia Park. That is where
the US Park Police Aviation Unit is hangared. Right on the Anacostia River those earlier mentioned military helos pass
right by,many enroute or from Andrews AFB.
BTW put "Gravelly Point " into Wikipedia and scroll down.There is a nice article from a few years ago about "plane
spotting".

[nwafan20]

Yeah, I knew the name was Gravelly Point but didn't figure it was too important, but thank you for the information about the other spots!

[Gerard]

>Yeah, I knew the name was Gravelly Point but didn't figure it was too important, but thank you for the information about the other spots!<

You're welcome. Good for other spotters to know the name so they can find the location easier. Bring a picnic
lunch and sit on the grass and enjoy!!! :D

[tipek]

Matt,

It was nice meeting you and Nick. I'm glad that you guys enjoyed your trip to DC area. The "other" spotter who joined you at GP was Tony - BWI resident :)

I see from your pictures that Alaska brought regular cs. It was given since Brian is hunting them for months :)

I've got news that you wont like. First one is KLM MD-11 will be coming to IAD this coming Sunday and will remain daily for 30 days, and second thing is Qatar moving their arrival time to 17:00 also starting Sunday.

Rafal

BTW - Our group is Washington-Baltimore Spotters Group not the other way around :)
http://www.washbaltspotters.net/

[stuart schechter]

Great shots dude! Too bad I was skiing in all the snow that dumped on your house. Looked like it was a lot of fun!

[nwafan20]

Thanks Rafal! Too bad we didn't stick around for a while.