SFRA Tour

Flyhound

Flyhound

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jan 7, 2014
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427
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Washington State
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Flyhound
Washington, DC is surrounded by a Special Flight Rules area, SFRA. It is relatively straightforward to fly into and out of the SFRA, but you can't play around when in that airspace. I decided to circumnavigate the SFRA yesterday so I could do 360s when I wanted and divert from my planned route when something looked interesting off to the side. I did have to pay close attention to how far off to the side the interesting stuff was. I also stopped at a few grass strips around the perimeter while I was at it. I had to dodge restricted areas around Camp David, Phillips Army Airfield, Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center, and AP Hill Army Airfield. In addition, I had the Class B airspace around DC and Baltimore to contend with. Once I got through all of that, it was a pretty sweet day! Here's the video to prove it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdz6NY0MiaA
 
Nice video,plenty of grass.
 
Flyhound said:
Washington, DC is surrounded by a Special Flight Rules area, SFRA. It is relatively straightforward to fly into and out of the SFRA, but you can't play around when in that airspace.
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Say what?????
 
Cool video. What was the last strip...your home field? I love visiting grass strips in my 182 and have done Massie and Kentmorr quite a few times.
 
Who says? As long as you stay out of the FRZ and in most cases the class B, PCT doesn't care what you are doing in the SFRA as long as you are filed, squeaking and talking.
 
You CAN 'play around' in the SFRA, just keep PCT informed.

You can't 'play around' in the FRZ, they pretty much want you to go straight in or out.
 
BradZ - Yeah, the last strip was Cedar Meadows Airpark. It isn't on the charts, but is about 6 nm northeast of Winchester (KOKV). I keep my plane in the hangar of one of the residents there. The RV flyin at the beginning of the video was also there, at another hangar.
 
Flyhound said:
BradZ - Yeah, the last strip was Cedar Meadows Airpark. It isn't on the charts, but is about 6 nm northeast of Winchester (KOKV). I keep my plane in the hangar of one of the residents there. The RV flyin at the beginning of the video was also there, at another hangar.
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Nice spot, very cool.

Net time file, squawk and talk and you can check out some of the neat stuff inside the SFRA, like Mallow's Bay (next to Quantico), Jug Bay on the Pax river, Annapolis, downtown Baltimore, etc. Like others mentioned, you can play all you want, just keep the code and be in radio contact with Potomac Tracon.
 
I keep my plane in WV because I wanted a hangar and a grass strip. That was the closest place that had both and was affordable. My home is actually in Manassas, so some weekends with good weather I'll bring the plane to KHEF and stage it there for local hops without having to drive for 90 minutes just to get to the hangar. KHEF is just 12 minutes from home. When I've flown in and out of the SFRA, I've always taken the gate that was closest to my departure/destination airport and I've flown directly to/from the gate/airport. Next flight in I'll see how flexible Potomac is on letting me wander a bit.

The good thing about operating mostly on grass is that my tires could last almost forever!
 
Very cool. Cedar Meadows is a neat field. I still haven't made it to Kentmorr yet and hadn't heard of Massey or Horn Point until recently.
 
That should be squawking not squeaking...damn auto correct. SUSPENDER DOROTHY
 
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