Aviation Related: Welcome to Washington, Bill Clinton

[Busflyer]

I don’t tend to get all starstruck either but I did cross paths with Jimmy Stewart at an FBO in CAE back in the 80s. I was pretty impressed with him.

 

[Ryan F.]

I've done three DCA turns in the last two months! It is neat to see the Capitol and Monument out the left side of the airplane on the River Visual.

 

[Pilawt]

In the late 1980s we lived in a housing development in SoCal. (If you ever saw the movie "Poltergeist 2", that was our street -- our house is clearly seen during the opening credits.) The neighbors on the corner next door were pleasant enough, but husband & wife would often go away on the weekend and leave Junior home alone. Which meant posters announcing "PARTY!!!" went up at the local high school. Those were some pretty spectacular events.

Meanwhile, during those same years, President Reagan's two young grandchildren would sometimes visit and stay overnight at our house (long story). This was shortly after the Libya bombing and Khaddafi's overt threats against Reagan's children and grandchildren, so the Secret Service was not playing games. When the kids were at our house there would be two unmarked Mercury station wagons parked at the curb in front of our house all night, and guys with mirrored sunglasses, earpieces and guns sitting in them. We had to leave our front door unlocked all night so they could use the bathroom.

One magical weekend the two events coincided. For some reason Junior's party next door was much more mellow and subdued than usual. Maybe the guys with sunglasses sitting out in the station wagons all night had something to do with it ... ?

When the neighbors returned a couple of days later they came to our door and asked delicately if we had called the police on their son. We smiled and said, in all sincerity, "No ... those were Federal agents."

(For what it's worth ... I don't know how things are now, but all of the Secret Service agents we dealt with in those days were courteous and very professional. The Secret Service then was part of the Department of the Treasury; now protection services are part of Homeland Security.)

 

[timwinters]

UPS only makes right turns?

Not quite true.

They map out routes to minimize left turns because they are far more dangerous than right turns. At least they used to lay them out in that manner.

 

[dbahn]

I've done three DCA turns in the last two months! It is neat to see the Capitol and Monument out the left side of the airplane on the River Visual.

It's a spectacular approach along any path from the north. Even in a single engine piston airplane it's hard to name all of the recognizable landmarks flying by, below you.

As I mentioned earlier, it's just a shame that the experience isn't open to all pilots now.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

In the late 1980s we lived in a housing development in SoCal. (If you ever saw the movie "Poltergeist 2", that was our street -- our house is clearly seen during the opening credits.) The neighbors on the corner next door were pleasant enough, but husband & wife would often go away on the weekend and leave Junior home alone. Which meant posters announcing "PARTY!!!" went up at the local high school. Those were some pretty spectacular events.

Meanwhile, during those same years, President Reagan's two young grandchildren would sometimes visit and stay overnight at our house (long story). This was shortly after the Libya bombing and Khaddafi's overt threats against Reagan's children and grandchildren, so the Secret Service was not playing games. When the kids were at our house there would be two unmarked Mercury station wagons parked at the curb in front of our house all night, and guys with mirrored sunglasses, earpieces and guns sitting in them. We had to leave our front door unlocked all night so they could use the bathroom.

One magical weekend the two events coincided. For some reason Junior's party next door was much more mellow and subdued than usual. Maybe the guys with sunglasses sitting out in the station wagons all night had something to do with it ... ?

When the neighbors returned a couple of days later they came to our door and asked delicately if we had called the police on their son. We smiled and said, in all sincerity, "No ... those were Federal agents."

(For what it's worth ... I don't know how things are now, but all of the Secret Service agents we dealt with in those days were courteous and very professional. The Secret Service then was part of the Department of the Treasury; now protection services are part of Homeland Security.)

They don't seem to be very secret anymore:

 

[weilke]

They don't seem to be very secret anymore:

While they are part of the same agency the 'Uniformed Division' is separate from the field agents and the executive protection side.

 

[wrbix]

Flew a Pilots n Paws flight into Roanoke back in , I guess, 2016 when The Donald was there for a campaign stop...a whole bunch of angry looking people standing around the FBO, looking at the pooch on the leash like WTF is that and How Dare You? Clearly not Dog or GA people.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

I've done three DCA turns in the last two months! It is neat to see the Capitol and Monument out the left side of the airplane on the River Visual.

Meh....you get use to it. But, it's my view from the office.