vZDC: Cherry Blossom Fly-In [03/31 - KDCA - 2330-0400z]

[Brad King]

Cherry Blossom Fly-In 2018
Featuring: KDCA Washington National Airport
March 31, 2018 I 1930-2300E [2330-03z, 1630-20P]

Join the controllers of the Virtual Washington ARTCC as we return to Washington National Airport for the Cherry Blossom Fly-In on March 31st. This yearly event is held during the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC between the months of March and April. During this time Washington's cherry blossoms lining the National Mall are in full bloom and tourists from around the country come for the beautiful scenery and events.

The trees trace their roots back to 1912 when Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki donated them to the city of Washington DC as a sign of friendship. These trees were planted around the tidal basin off the national mall and a festival in celebration of the trees was begun in 1934.

Washington National is the preferred domestic airport for commuters and tourists alike for travel to the Washington Metro Area. The airport is only 3 miles south of the National Mall and due to this features a variety of scenic and unique approaches/departures for aircraft departing or arriving at the airport. It features a variety of flights from North American flights ranging from regional to transcontinental. We hope there is a flight for everyone and we look forward to seeing you there.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

ZDC did a really nice job with this.  If you ever listen to real-world DCA Tower on LiveATC you can definitely feel the tension of the frantic pace they maintain to squeeze arrivals as close as possible to one another while firing off departures in between these barely perceptible holes in the inbound stream.  The ZDC staff really captured that tonight.  I truly felt like I was really there.

(of course I'm only 50 miles from there in reality anyway!)

[Lucio Franco]

Only wished we had all the Heli ops that the DC area provides IRL!

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Only wished we had all the Heli ops that the DC area provides IRL!

LOL.  I'll also say that I was glad they let me take the RNAV RNP 19; I haven't flown the River Visual in so long I was sure I was going to make a you-know-what of myself if I tried it in the middle of an event, LOL.  The paths are so close to one another I figured it wouldn't be an issue.  Thanks guys!

[Steven Fedor]

Only wished we had all the Heli ops that the DC area provides IRL!

LOL.  I'll also say that I was glad they let me take the RNAV RNP 19; I haven't flown the River Visual in so long I was sure I was going to make a you-know-what of myself if I tried it in the middle of an event, LOL.  The paths are so close to one another I figured it wouldn't be an issue.  Thanks guys!

Wasn’t an issue at all to put ya on the RNAV. Most pilots I know that fly into DCA on the river will go ahead and load the procedure and fly it anyway, because it pretty much mirrors the river. South ops VMC can get very interesting sometimes, but I’d have to say it was very smooth last night.

Here’s the video:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtfEIzd_C_I

[Robert Shearman Jr]

South ops VMC can get very interesting sometimes, but I’d have to say it was very smooth last night.

The guy two arrivals ahead of me busted the P-56 (I think he was #5 at 1:02 in your video, LOL) but otherwise I have to agree; even at the heightened pace and the one primary arrival and departure runway, both the controllers and pilots did pretty well that I saw and heard...