Friday Night Flights: INDEPENDENCE DAY - Concord MA to Washington DC (July 4th at 9pm ET)

[Coast]

Summary

This year the 4th of July falls on a Friday, and we are going to observe it in our Friday Night flights series. We will start near where the American War for Independence started around Concord, MA, and then fly down the coast of the United States to the three historically important cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The United States has had eight capitals, and we will be flying to two of the former capitals. We will also do a flyover of the U.S. Naval Academy, Statue of Liberty, where Gen. Washington crossed the Delaware river, and the Mall in Washington passing Capital Hill, the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. I would also like to fly over Arlington National Cemetery prior to landing at Reagan National.

Time-zone BreakDown:

Friday, July 4th, 2014 at:

9PM Eastern
8PM Central
7PM Mountain
6PM Pacific

Flight Plan: PLN File

Target Airspeed:

[210kias-230kias]

Average Cruising Altitude:

500 FT - 4,000 FT (low level flyby of historic locations)

Preferred Aircraft:

1. Vintage American WWII prop fighter aircraft such as the Army Air Force P-51, P47, P-40, P-38, etc., any WW II US Naval aircraft such as the F4U Corsair, Hellcat, Bearcat, etc.

2. USAF Lockheed C-130 (only modern day 4 engine turbo-prop allowed).

UPDATED -- July 2, 2014

Arrival at Reagan National

After we pass over the Lincoln Memorial, we will continue over the Arlington Bridge to fly over the Arlington National Cemetery. The Pentagon will right of our left wing as we pas over the bridge. We will turn left and continue due south making left traffic for Reagan National Runway 01 with an ILS of 109.9 Mhz at 006 degrees.

[Storm]

Great idea Coast! Two points:

1. I assume you want US WWII prop fighters only.
2. The PLN file does not yet match the map/flight plan images. Which would you like us to follow?

[Coast]

Great idea Coast! Two points:

1. I assume you want US WWII prop fighters only.
2. The PLN file does not yet match the map/flight plan images. Which would you like us to follow?

They should be identical, so I just uploaded/downloaded and tested the PLN file. Hopefully it's correct now.

We will NOT be landing at 6B6 Minute Man airfield, but it is the home of some interesting aircraft.

And yes Storm the prop WW II aircraft should be any that were used by American units, with American markings. If a C-130 is used it also should have American markings.

-Coast

[Storm]

Thank you Coast. The updated PLN works nicely. :eagerness:

[Coast]

The flyover of the "Minute Man" airfield (6B6) is for those who are interested in vintage WWII and Vietnam era aircraft. It is the home of the Collings Foundation which maintains an airworthy collection there.

Link: http://www.collingsfoundation.org/cf_aircraft.htm.

They usually have a summer tour season around the states each year which has given me a chance in the past to photograph them when they came to my town.

Link: http://www.collingsfoundation.org/cf_schedule-wof.htm

-Coast

[Coast]

Airport Diagrams:







-Coast5

[Storm]

FSX substitutions can be a strange and wonderful thing. Coast in his P-38 Lightning (center), apparently followed by a Latécoère 28 (left), a Cirrus SR20 (below), and a Smeiman Stingray (right). But not really...




Coast flying under a bridge over the Delaware River...