FAA: Big Tech Challenges For Massive Washington, DC Warbirds Flyover

coondoggie writes: It will be one of the largest gatherings of flying WWII aircraft in history as 56 famous vintage warbirds will fly through restricted airspace over the National Mall Friday in remembrance of the 70th anniversary of VE-Day or Victory in Europe Day. The huge flyover, dubbed "The Arsenal of Democracy," of so many different types of aircraft – from seaplanes to fighters and the only flying B-29 Superfortress – was no easy undertaking. The first plane should be visible along the National Mall around 12:10 p.m. With roughly 90 seconds between formations, the Flyover will end by 1 p.m. Reagan National Airport will be closed to commercial traffic from 12 noon to 1 p.m. to accommodate the flights. The Flyover will be streamed live here.

Comments

We should divert it ..

[BarbaraHudson]

They should overfly Texas, just so we can watch the crazies on Fox and the far right lose it (Jade Helm prequel).

What tech challenges?

[Zargg]

I don't get it, what is the big tech challenge to overcome here? Seems like the biggest issues are legal (exemptions from the FAA already made though) or logistical.

Re:What tech challenges?

[tlambert]

I don't get it, what is the big tech challenge to overcome here? Seems like the biggest issues are legal (exemptions from the FAA already made though) or logistical.

Lack of modern istrumentation, radar transponders, and other equipment which is normally used by modern air traffic control systems. You will recall that the newly overhauled system went online 7 days ago (30 Apr 2015):

http://www.usatoday.com/story/...

The primary issue won't be in the corridor itself, it'll be getting into and out of it from shared public airspace, and avoiding collisions between the aircraft themselves, many of which do not have anti-collision systems or even radars.

Re:What tech challenges?

[brambus]

Lack of modern istrumentation, radar transponders, and other equipment which is normally used by modern air traffic control systems.

That's just BS. First of all, the instrumentation to fly an assigned heading and altitude must already be there, otherwise they just wouldn't be certified to fly. Secondly, there's no problem installing a modern radio stack in an old airplane - you can even have it tucked away in the cockpit so it doesn't interfere with the "old style" cockpit look too much. Tons of old airplanes are retrofitted with new avionics all the time. All you really need is the two boxes near the bottom of this instrument panel (retrofitted to a 1940s era Piper Cub with an admittedly quite pimped out instrument retrofit, the original had far fewer instruments, but still at least a compass and an airspeed and altitude indicator).

The primary issue won't be in the corridor itself, it'll be getting into and out of it from shared public airspace

You do know that ATC doesn't control all aircraft, right? Do you know what VFR means? How about class G airspace? Instruments aren't needed for all navigation and many pilots aren't even certified for instrument-only flight (look up "Instrument Rating") - in fact, these pilots are 100% self-reliant. ATC can provide traffic advisories and suggested headings if you ask them, but they don't have to and aren't even obligated to (if ATC is overloaded, VFR traffic gets dropped first).

and avoiding collisions between the aircraft themselves, many of which do not have anti-collision systems or even radars.

Tons of privately owned aircraft do not have TCAS and civilian aircraft radar isn't even intended to and cannot show other aircraft. Still, people manage to survive fly-ins and other large-scale GA gathering events even at uncontrolled airports. The key, that every pilot knows, is: look before you turn, say intentions before you act.

B-29

[ArchieBunker]

Seeing and hearing the B-29 fly over is quite impressive. I try and imagine what it would be like in 1945 to see a sky full of them. They do a flyover here during the summer and you can pay for a ride although its not cheap.

Re:B-29

[willoughby]

Back in '92, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first B29 flight, the Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society (BEARS) had a special event ham radio station on the air. They were set up near the airplane and when one engine was fired up as a demo, their station was unreadable for about 3 minutes. It was pretty neat to hear just over the radio. ...and, yes, I made a contact & got my special event QSL card from K7NWS with a nice photo of a B29 in flight..

Anecdote

[youngone]

My Mother's partner FLT/SGT Hudson of the Royal New Zealand Air Force flew in a couple of those bombers during the recent unpleasantness with Germany. His favourite bomber, as a gunner, was the Wellington though, he said that it was possible to shoot huge holes in those and they just kept flying home. In a memoir he dictated before his death, he told of a raid where his aircraft was jumped by two BF-110's over Holland. He managed to shoot one down, but the other one shot out one of the Wellington's engines and blew huge holes in the wings and fuselage. Although the navigator was killed, they made it home for a crash landing. I think the pilot on that flight was 21 years old.

Re:Anecdote

[Pope Hagbard]

I read of an early Wellington getting jumped by German fighters and one of its engines set afire. A crewman climbed out onto the wing (wind, Germans, and fire all) with an "engine cover" (IIRC), sticking his hands and feet through the cloth skin and onto the geodesic frame*, and used it to smother the flames. His plane got home that day.

Wellingtons are one of my favorite planes too.

*said frame being why it was possible for shot-up examples to return so often. It was very similar to a rigid airship's frame.

Re:Anecdote

[Intrepid imaginaut]

I just randomly googled that and you ain't kidding: http://albumwar2.com/wp-conten...

Re:How much does this cost taxpayers?

[Deadstick]

Basically, a few thousand gallons of gasoline. The airplanes are privately owned.

Some of those planes have functional bomb releases

[TheHawke]

Just sayin'...

Re:How much does this cost taxpayers?

[sls1j]

Well, if those bombers could take just one more load of bombs...

Nothing.

[Etherwalk]

Basically, a few thousand gallons of gasoline. The airplanes are privately owned.

So close to zero that it doesn't matter. The budget is driven by social security, medicare, and defense. Talk about anything else in the federal budget is almost meaningless until we fix those--it just distracts from the core problem.

Arsenal of Democracy Ignorance

[istartedi]

I'm seeing a lot of ignorant comments about the phrase "arsenal of democracy". Please educate yourselves. This phrase comes out of the WW2 era in which these birds flew. Manufacturing weapons was a huge part of the US contribution because we could do it without having to worry about Axis bombers hitting our plants. The AoD helped kill the Axis. Please try to separate it from the modern issues. This is history we're talking about.

The largest gatherings of such aircrafts was WW2

[iceco2]

Depending on how you define an event, the most WW2 planes flying at once could have been one of several raids.
Good candidates include the bombing of Dreseden, Berlin, Hamburg or London.

Reagan National Airport?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, sir, I'm afraid not. The name of the airport is "The Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport," named after the famous African American rights advocate Ronald Reagan Washington.