Washington SFRA

mapasha

mapasha

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Aug 25, 2014
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Iowa
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N1915W
So was planning on flying to KOKV (Winchester, VA) tomorrow. Figured all was good since it was outside of the Washington DC SFRA. Now as I look at the sectional I noticed that all flights within 60 nautical miles of the DCA VOR-DME require special awareness training.

Anyone local to that area or knowledgeable about this confirm that?

I will be flying VFR with flight following/radar advisories from KMUT to KOKV.

Thanks.
 
go online to the link and take the course....IIRC its about 30 minutes. No biggie.
 
Correct. Do the online training and keep a copy of the certificate to prove it if anyone ever asks.
 
Taking the course right now. Looks like the only limitation for VFR between the 30nm and 60nm of the DCA VOR-DME rings is that aircraft have to stay below 230 knots.
 
My take away after the course and the background check for the FRZ stuff was to alway go IFR, I'm not messing with gates and faux IFR plans for VFR ops, just straight IFR for me.

Gotta love the security theatre.
 
James331 said:
My take away after the course and the background check for the FRZ stuff was to alway go IFR, I'm not messing with gates and faux IFR plans for VFR ops, just straight IFR for me.

Gotta love the security theatre.
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Yep. If I'm flying near DC I'm filing. Way easier.
 
Done! Actually pretty painless.
 
For OKV, no flight plan required - you're well outside the SFRA. But the training is required.
 
mapasha said:
So was planning on flying to KOKV (Winchester, VA) tomorrow. Figured all was good since it was outside of the Washington DC SFRA. Now as I look at the sectional I noticed that all flights within 60 nautical miles of the DCA VOR-DME require special awareness training.

Anyone local to that area or knowledgeable about this confirm that?
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Yes, it us a requirement for any VFR flight.

Are you able to file and fly IFR? If you are IFR, you are not required to have complete the course, but it isn't hard to complete and a good idea to do it if you fly in that neck of the woods.
 
Of course that means NO VFR departures and pick up IFR even outside the SFRA. No cancelling and going in VFR if ATC holds you because someone is IFR ahead of you (even on a CAVU day) etc...
 
Here's my issue with it. I'm based out of a airport inside the SFRA ( KANP ) Now getting the flight plan filed and a code is no real big deal but my home field charges 5.50 for 100ll and KFME which is 7 miles away charges 4.30. If I want to go get cheap fuel when I am coming back home I must file a extra flight plan to land at FME, fuel and then get a new code to fly over the 7 miles to my home base. It's not undoable but adds extra work for everyone involved.
 
Take the course,it's no big thing.saves a violation or worse.
 
jtheune said:
Here's my issue with it. I'm based out of a airport inside the SFRA ( KANP ) Now getting the flight plan filed and a code is no real big deal but my home field charges 5.50 for 100ll and KFME which is 7 miles away charges 4.30. If I want to go get cheap fuel when I am coming back home I must file a extra flight plan to land at FME, fuel and then get a new code to fly over the 7 miles to my home base. It's not undoable but adds extra work for everyone involved.
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I wish they could reuse the Leesburg maneuvering area model elsewhere, e.g. squawk 1227 for GAI/W50, 1228 for ANP/W00, etc.
 
GeorgeC said:
I wish they could reuse the Leesburg maneuvering area model elsewhere, e.g. squawk 1227 for GAI/W50, 1228 for ANP/W00, etc.
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I wonder which DHS official has his plane based at Leesburg to warrant this special treatment.

There is no reason why ANP couldn't get the same setup (or why you need a SFRA flight plan at KHEF for the 10min trip to the boundary but you don't need a flight-plan for flights in the pattern o_O ).
 
weilke said:
I wonder which DHS official has his plane based at Leesburg to warrant this special treatment.

There is no reason why ANP couldn't get the same setup (or why you need a SFRA flight plan at KHEF for the 10min trip to the boundary but you don't need a flight-plan for flights in the pattern o_O ).
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FWIW, JYO is 28nm from DCA and ANP is 22nm so I guess someone thought pilots at JYO are less a risk than ANP. Honestly though, I'm not sure why there isn't a corridor for HEF and BWI, since they're already taking to ATC.
 
GeorgeC said:
I wish they could reuse the Leesburg maneuvering area model elsewhere, e.g. squawk 1227 for GAI/W50, 1228 for ANP/W00, etc.
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Let me know how dialing 1228 on your transponder works out for you.
 
Brad Z said:
FWIW, JYO is 28nm from DCA and ANP is 22nm so I guess someone thought pilots at JYO are less a risk than ANP. Honestly though, I'm not sure why there isn't a corridor for HEF and BWI, since they're already taking to ATC.
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I think it is because you will be talking to ATC that they didn't make special rules for HEF and BWI. You have to talk to PCT to get into BWI anyhow. It would be nice if you could just ring up HEF tower directly .
 
flyingron said:
I think it is because you will be talking to ATC that they didn't make special rules for HEF and BWI. You have to talk to PCT to get into BWI anyhow. It would be nice if you could just ring up HEF tower directly .
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My point is there should be no need to file a flight plan to fly directly in or out of those towered fields if you're going straight in or out, provided you're talking with ATC (which you'd have to anyway, save HEF when the tower is closed).
 
Brad Z said:
My point is there should be no need to file a flight plan to fly directly in or out of those towered fields if you're going straight in or out, provided you're talking with ATC (which you'd have to anyway, save HEF when the tower is closed).
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For some reason, if you remain in the pattern at HEF, you are no threat and your radio callup on ground is enough to satisfy the government men. It's the flight across those meadows and fields over to fluky that requires the full thing.
 
flyingron said:
For some reason, if you remain in the pattern at HEF, you are no threat and your radio callup on ground is enough to satisfy the government men. It's the flight across those meadows and fields over to fluky that requires the full thing.
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Crazy. It's all of 1nm from the class D boundary to the SFRA boundary.
 
Brad Z said:
Crazy. It's all of 1nm from the class D boundary to the SFRA boundary.
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I didn't say that, Weilke did. The class D is 1NM, but it's not the case that HEF tower controls all that airspace. There's a far cry from "being in the pattern at HEF" and "out of the SFRA."

The key I believe is they want to know you are talking to someone that they immediately know who. You're either in the pattern at HEF or your dealing with one of the PCT sectors (possibly only the transponder-observing clown whose real job at that position is nothing but to watch to see if someone's heading towards the FRZ without authorization and start the ball rolling to stop it).
 
flyingron said:
I didn't say that, Weilke did. The class D is 1NM, but it's not the case that HEF tower controls all that airspace. There's a far cry from "being in the pattern at HEF" and "out of the SFRA."

The key I believe is they want to know you are talking to someone that they immediately know who. You're either in the pattern at HEF or your dealing with one of the PCT sectors (possibly only the transponder-observing clown whose real job at that position is nothing but to watch to see if someone's heading towards the FRZ without authorization and start the ball rolling to stop it).
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Not sure how I managed to misquote. Either way, I'm familiar with how the sfra/FRZ works; I'm just surprised they didn't set up an ingress/egress corridor for HEF (and BWI) that allows to to fly in and out without a flightplan assuming you're talking to HEF tower before entering the sfra and squawking an ingress code. Seems more secure than JYO since you're actually talking with a controller (albeit not one at PCT).

Then again this isn't necessary supposed to make sense.
 
Actually you are talking to a PCT controller to get into BWI, it's in the middle of the class B. The only difference is you have to file at least an abbreviated plan. I go from CJR to IAD all the time. Having to prefile (both ways) ain't no big thing.

I agree, HEF is so close to the edge as to be silly.

My point was that the JYO exclusion is there to avoid comms with ATC for that short distance NOT to alleviate your need to file a plan but that by the time you get in the air and able to raise PCT you're probably out of the airspace. They didn't see it necessary to modify anything at BWI and HEF since you're talking to ATC on the ground there.
 
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