Unfamiliar departure out of DCA?
Posted by drdsheen@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 8 comments
I live very close to DCA and so I routinely see northbound departures flying up the Potomac. A couple nights ago, I saw a departing aircraft turn roughly 090 immediately after takeoff from runway 01, putting it directly over Arlington (and most certainly NOT following the river). I checked ADSB which confirms what I thought I saw. Then I saw it happen again about five minutes later, so it's not a fluke. I checked the published departures and none of them direct aircraft this way, and I'm curious about what's going on.
Is this a new thing out of DCA, or am I just noticing it for the first time?
flyingron@reddit
What makes you think that you're required to fly a published departure? But anyhow, the more frequently assigned departures like NATIONAL EIGHT are just shortcuts, so the controller doesn't have to read the whole thing. It's something like fly one of the DCA VOR radials (depending which runway you departed) to 5000 expect RV to first fix. Once in RADAR contact, ATC can turn you early. All that stuff on page #2 is purely for before-RADAR contact/lost comms purposes.
Baystate411@reddit
Prob runway 4, think you low level off at like 3000 too
drdsheen@reddit (OP)
It was 1. Also I made a mistake and flipped 270 and 090. Arlington is west of DCA, not east
Baystate411@reddit
Find the live ATC recording of that time and hear for yourself.
-HippoMan-@reddit
Probably a rwy 04 departure
drdsheen@reddit (OP)
It was 1. Also I made a mistake and flipped 270 and 090. Arlington is west of DCA, not east
Burgershot621@reddit
Not a new thing. Just doesn’t happen too often in my experience.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I live very close to DCA and so I routinely see northbound departures flying up the Potomac. A couple nights ago, I saw a departing aircraft turn roughly 090 immediately after takeoff from runway 01, putting it directly over Arlington (and most certainly NOT following the river). I checked ADSB which confirms what I thought I saw. Then I saw it happen again about five minutes later, so it's not a fluke. I checked the published departures and none of them direct aircraft this way, and I'm curious about what's going on.
Is this a new thing out of DCA, or am I just noticing it for the first time?
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