I have flown into Washington DC’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) countless times. It is a common route for my Florida to Maine journeys to visit my 92 year old mother. I usually fly American Airlines and this, along with Charlotte, are my most common layover airports.
But as many times as I have flown near the White House, I still look like a tourist to all who see me. I have that window open (if I have a window seat), and I’m just a clicking away. Others who see me must think it is my first time doing a flyover. But I don’t care. Let me look like a rookie flyer. I always get a special feeling seeing our Capital building from the sky and looking down upon the Washington Memorial.
I’ve only actually visited the city one time as a tourist and I did all the usual sites. Perhaps the Holocaust museum had the deepest impact. But, you can’t visit this great city without leaving with a sense of national pride. Especially after a visit to Arlington Cemetery.
I’ve never flown into Ronald Reagan airport without a great view of the White House. It seems I’m always on the right side of the plane every time. And I always feel that same sense of national pride knowing we live in the greatest country on earth, despite what the haters say. But you know the haters don’t want to live anywhere else either. They just want to complain. Hating is what haters do!
The airport is located 5 miles from downtown. It first opened in 1941 under the name Washington National Airport. But, in 1988 congress approved the Ronald Reagan name (a Republican) and was signed into effect by Bill Clinton (a Democrat!). Ah…back when politics was not as partisan as today!
DCA is not one of my favorite airports. It seems to always be heavily congested with airline traffic and delays seem commonplace. From the delay data I saw from one report, they have delayed flight’s slightly more than 20% of the time. That’s a little higher than the average for major airports in the USA but much better than Newark’s 30%!
Regardless of the delays, I still enjoy flying through Washington just for the view of our Capital city each time. I’m not sure if others on the flight enjoy that moment of patriotism or not, but I judge they don’t as I seem to be the only one snapping all the shots!