DC Flyover prep

AOPA Vice President of Airports and State Advocacy Mike Ginter ran the briefing with the military precision of the naval aviator he once was. “No original thought is authorized,” he warned the pilots as he repeatedly drilled instructions on routes, airspeeds, and timing. Fifty-four aircraft had to arrive at show center—the Washington Monument on the National Mall—within seconds of their assigned time, at 1,000 feet above ground level, and in the correct order, for the mission to succeed. We had proven four aircraft could accomplish it during a March 24 practice flight—but a full hour of GA aircraft passing the Washington Monument every 60 seconds suddenly seemed improbable.

Safe passage through the restricted airspace was all but guaranteed given the cooperation of the FAA, TSA, and U.S. Secret Service, who were eager to help AOPA showcase general aviation by making this unique flight possible. But our objective was not to take a scenic flight; we intended to tell the story of GA as we flew down the National Mall.

Easy, right? Begin with the 1930s (AOPA was founded May 15, 1939) and chronicle GA decade by decade through today. But as we began to select aircraft, we realized every decade had slow- and fast-flying aircraft. There was no single speed everyone could safely fly and maintain a 60-second gap the entire 42 miles from Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK) to the Washington Monument.

We settled on the idea of telling the story of GA in 15 non-chronological chapters, starting with aircraft that could fly 90 knots, followed by aircraft flying 120 knots, and finally aircraft flying 165 knots. But this meant the long line of aircraft could not simply take off in 60-second intervals because the faster aircraft would quickly overtake the slower. And Ginter emphasized that, for safety reasons, if an aircraft threatened to overtake the preceding aircraft they could not perform a three-sixty or alter course to keep the gap—they would have to break out and return to FDK. To ensure proper spacing, AOPA Chief Flight Instructor Mike Filucci did the math and worked backward from when each aircraft needed to arrive at show center to determine each aircraft’s exact takeoff time down to the minute and second. That precision also was necessary to keep us within our one-hour time limit over the mall. (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) would be closed for one hour.)

Meanwhile, AOPA would ambitiously livestream the D.C. Flyover on YouTube. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History donated space on its rooftop for long-time AOPA Editor in Chief Tom Haines and aviation journalist Miles O’Brien to narrate the flyover, and to house our video crew. Our four-ship practice flight revealed we needed additional camera angles. So, we positioned video crew on the National Mall near the Washington Monument, on the FAA Washington headquarters building, and on a building in Rosslyn, Virginia, and would connect those cameras via a wireless line of sight system to the show director at the National Museum of American History who would select which camera to broadcast to our YouTube livestream. It would be an unprecedented effort by AOPA to share the National Celebration of General Aviation D.C. Flyover live with AOPA members, pilots, and aviation enthusiasts worldwide.

Despite all that could have gone wrong, everything worked perfectly (see “A Very Special Day,” p. 58). All 54 aircraft arrived at show center on time and in the correct sequence; Haines and O’Brien did an outstanding job keeping up with the fast pace of the overhead action; and the 75-minute livestream was viewed by more than 50,000 people that day. Even better—between the official AOPA livestream and dozens of additional videos posted on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook by AOPA and others, the D.C. Flyover has garnered more than half a million views to date. While it was fun to celebrate GA in a unique way, it was essential that we explained the history and benefits of GA to a huge audience that may not know much about our “little airplanes” flying in the sky above.

The AOPA video team has edited the video down to 38 minutes and added spectacular helicopter footage that was prohibited to be shown by the U.S. Secret Service during the live event until the agency could view it. The final version of the D.C. Flyover will live on AOPA’s YouTube channel (you can also find it at aopa.org/pilot/aug24) as a reminder of the important role GA plays in the U.S., and the reason AOPA works daily to ensure your freedom to fly.

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