> I bet that he was not cleared for a visual departure out of DCA. Why not? DCA has a charted, named visual arrival. A visual departure via pilotage is no diff

> I bet that he was not cleared for a visual departure out of DCA. Why not? DCA has a charted, named visual arrival. A visual departure via pilotage is no different, and is very common for VFR flights. (Yes, they would've been given a departure clearance with a route to follow, but "follow the river" is a valid VFR clearance.) KDVA RIVER VISUAL RWY 19 - https://www.fly.faa.gov/Information/east/zdc/dca/atcCharts/DCA_CVFP_00443RIVER_VIS19.pdf https://www.fly.faa.gov/Information/east/zdc/dca/atcCharts/D... > What restricted airspaces were there in the vicinity he should be aware of? That's on the chart. ATC doesn't need to (and usually won't) tell you about those. It's expected the pilot has done adequate preflight planning to be aware of them.