Report a Comment

That argument might carry some weight for Dulles, but it's harder to justify with National. The airport may be solely in Virginia, but its takeoff and landing approaches and flight paths are almost entirely within DC airspace.

And this isn't just a matter of normal overflights, or a slippery slope giving every jurisdiction a say in every airport on the grounds that planes from that airport might fly over that jurisdiction. Takeoffs and landings at National are made over the Potomac, which is DC territory, and National's runways come within 50 feet of the river. National has three approaches -- Georgetown Reservoir to the northwest, Anacostia River to the northeast, and Potomac River to the south -- all of which overfly DC rather than Virginia.

As such, DC is actually more affected by any negative externalities from National Airport's operations than Virginia is. This isn't just a matter of noise (although I'm sure National would love to get more flight paths by overflying more of DC) but even extends to catastrophic failures. There have been two major airline crashes "at National" -- Eastern 537 while landing, Air Florida 90 on takeoff -- and both times the wreckage came down in DC territory, putting DC rather than Virginia on the hook for first response and repairing the collateral damage. (Air Florida 90 struck a bridge before landing in the Potomac; most of Eastern 537 also went into the Potomac, but some debris landed on the DC shore, although it did no real damage.)

by cminus on Jun 4, 2012 5:37 pm • link • report