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Washington National doesn't have any runways that run perpendicular to the Potomac, so if the pilot maintained runway heading on takeoff, he should have already

Washington National doesn't have any runways that run perpendicular to the Potomac, so if the pilot maintained runway heading on takeoff, he should have already been more or less aligned with the river going north or south. The story says he landed on a 6000 foot runway. There are three runways on the field: 1/19 is 7169 feet, 15/33 is 5204 feet, and 4/22 is 5000 feet. It's possible the runways were configured differently back then, but it's most likely that runway 1/19 was in use because it's the only one over 6000 feet. That runway runs almost due North/South. If the tower operator instructed the pilot to follow the river after departure and intended the pilot to fly south, it's almost certain the pilot took off on runway 19 which is nearly parallel to the river and the pilot would be traveling south. If the pilot found themselves crossing the river, they were not on a runway heading and had already deviated. The pilot could have checked his compass or heading indicator, take into account the runway heading of 190 degrees, and that should have informed him to turn right to return to his original heading. Instead, the pilot turned left which put him in the opposite heading he was assigned.

theideaofcoffee 4y ago
He mentioned in the piece that he was on 18: "Seat belts fastened, I rolled forward made a right turn and taxied to runway 18..." 18 at the time it was written/recounted, and 19 now most likely due to pole drift.
- rtkwe 4y ago
  That does match with the rest of the story. Left turn of of 18/19 to go up river would point him back towards the Whitehouse and Capitol. It does make their mistake a little more egregious though because if they're 'following the river' turning nearly 180 to do that and also not following the flow is much larger change than simply following your current heading and making the small turn to follow the river out to sea. That unexpected and uninstructed turn back towards the WH and Capitol certainly would have raised a lot of eyebrows. One thing I am having trouble with is picturing where they would have been crossing the river at 1500 feet. The Potomac is basically at the end of the runway he took off from. On the other hand for the rest of the process small planes aren't that rare in National and there's even a rather scenic approach pattern that actually follows the Potomac into runway 19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zco3XlYt6Ko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zco3XlYt6Ko
  - squallgmn 4y ago
    During flight school, one of the first things we learn on a piston-single aircraft is to apply right rudder and maintain runway heading on takeoff. Small single-engine planes have a tendency to yaw left due to effects of torque, slipstream, and p-factor. I'm guessing the pilot drifted left on climbout due to lack of right rudder. He could have turned 90 degrees by the time he leveled out at 1500 feet and been over the river. Sometimes as pilots, the worst thing we can do is react. It's usually best to take a breath, think about your situation, cross-check, decide, and act intentionally. By rolling the dice, the pilot had a 50/50 chance of making the wrong decision. I don't like those odds.
thrwwy95fab9d1 4y ago
I had the same skeptical reaction to this story. The runways may have changed numbers (I’m not sure how to confirm this), but if they were crossing the river taking off from what is now runway 19, they seriously deviated from their flight plan and deserved the call.
- StaleTortilla 4y ago
  So glad I'm not the only one interested in looking at a map to help understand the story. The runway numbers did indeed change, back in 1999: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Washington_National_Airport#:~:text=Runways%2018/36%20and%203/21%20were%20renumbered%20as%201/19%20and%204/22%20in%201999%20as%20earth%27s%20magnetic%20field%20drifted.%5B28%5D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Washington_Natio... Agreed that the pilot definitely made a huge, and not really reasonable mistake. Even though it was pre-9/11, I'd expect a pilot who was going to fly in/around DC to know there's going to be restricted airspace and to take the time to understand it. (if link doesn't work, go to the Wikipedia article for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and look at the bullets under "Expansion and restrictions")
- dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
  With magnetic shift runway 18 could very well have been renamed 19.
- mike_d 4y ago
  > The runways may have changed numbers (I’m not sure how to confirm this) Runways and named by taking the degrees from magnetic north and dropping the last digit. Parallel runways will be designated (for example) 31L(eft) 31C(enter) 31R(right). You'd need to rotate the runway to rename it.
  - margalabargala 4y ago
    That's one option. The other one is to move magnetic north. This story is from the early 80s. The magnetic north pole moves around 40 miles per year. What was once runway 18 at DCA over 40 years ago is now 19.
snowwrestler 4y ago
Almost certainly he took off northbound, which puts you pretty quickly over DC if you do not turn your plane left to track with the bend in the river just north of the airport.

theideaofcoffee 4y ago

He mentioned in the piece that he was on 18: "Seat belts fastened, I rolled forward made a right turn and taxied to runway 18..." 18 at the time it was written/recounted, and 19 now most likely due to pole drift.

rtkwe 4y ago
That does match with the rest of the story. Left turn of of 18/19 to go up river would point him back towards the Whitehouse and Capitol. It does make their mistake a little more egregious though because if they're 'following the river' turning nearly 180 to do that and also not following the flow is much larger change than simply following your current heading and making the small turn to follow the river out to sea. That unexpected and uninstructed turn back towards the WH and Capitol certainly would have raised a lot of eyebrows. One thing I am having trouble with is picturing where they would have been crossing the river at 1500 feet. The Potomac is basically at the end of the runway he took off from. On the other hand for the rest of the process small planes aren't that rare in National and there's even a rather scenic approach pattern that actually follows the Potomac into runway 19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zco3XlYt6Ko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zco3XlYt6Ko
- squallgmn 4y ago
  During flight school, one of the first things we learn on a piston-single aircraft is to apply right rudder and maintain runway heading on takeoff. Small single-engine planes have a tendency to yaw left due to effects of torque, slipstream, and p-factor. I'm guessing the pilot drifted left on climbout due to lack of right rudder. He could have turned 90 degrees by the time he leveled out at 1500 feet and been over the river. Sometimes as pilots, the worst thing we can do is react. It's usually best to take a breath, think about your situation, cross-check, decide, and act intentionally. By rolling the dice, the pilot had a 50/50 chance of making the wrong decision. I don't like those odds.

thrwwy95fab9d1 4y ago

I had the same skeptical reaction to this story. The runways may have changed numbers (I’m not sure how to confirm this), but if they were crossing the river taking off from what is now runway 19, they seriously deviated from their flight plan and deserved the call.

StaleTortilla 4y ago
So glad I'm not the only one interested in looking at a map to help understand the story. The runway numbers did indeed change, back in 1999: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Washington_National_Airport#:~:text=Runways%2018/36%20and%203/21%20were%20renumbered%20as%201/19%20and%204/22%20in%201999%20as%20earth%27s%20magnetic%20field%20drifted.%5B28%5D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Washington_Natio... Agreed that the pilot definitely made a huge, and not really reasonable mistake. Even though it was pre-9/11, I'd expect a pilot who was going to fly in/around DC to know there's going to be restricted airspace and to take the time to understand it. (if link doesn't work, go to the Wikipedia article for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and look at the bullets under "Expansion and restrictions")
dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
With magnetic shift runway 18 could very well have been renamed 19.
mike_d 4y ago
> The runways may have changed numbers (I’m not sure how to confirm this) Runways and named by taking the degrees from magnetic north and dropping the last digit. Parallel runways will be designated (for example) 31L(eft) 31C(enter) 31R(right). You'd need to rotate the runway to rename it.
- margalabargala 4y ago
  That's one option. The other one is to move magnetic north. This story is from the early 80s. The magnetic north pole moves around 40 miles per year. What was once runway 18 at DCA over 40 years ago is now 19.

snowwrestler 4y ago

Almost certainly he took off northbound, which puts you pretty quickly over DC if you do not turn your plane left to track with the bend in the river just north of the airport.