← Previous Post: | Next Post: →

 

‘I see all of the many, many, many helicopter flights following that same flight path. They come right down over the marina. And it’s one thing, when there’s an urgent need or a security issue, to move people by military helicopter to the White House or from one base to another in the D.C. area. It’s another to do it for convenience for generals and “very important people” who don’t want to sit in traffic.’

Who knew wee Reagan Airport was one of the most dangerous places to land/take off in America? If you grew up here, like ol’ UD, you think of Reagan as the dinky downhome alternative to sleek vast Saarinen-designed Dulles (with BWI — we’re really spoiled; lots of terminals near ‘thesda — a kind of afterthought for a quick hop to Bermuda). Now it turns out that self-important assholes have been jamming the place and creating a hellscape people in charge of the airport have been screaming about forever. Reagan Airport “is probably the most dangerous airport in the United States,” one pilot wrote in 2015. “The controllers are pushing, pushing, pushing in an attempt to handle the traffic they have.”

And ain’t it sweet that little Wichita’s Rep. pushed and pushed and got a daily flight out there THAT THE AIRPORT CAN BARELY HANDLE AND ITS ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN BEGGING FOR ALL THE ADDITIONAL FLIGHTS TO STOP.

********************************

That copter thing. Reminds me of the Rennert/Bloomberg thing of just landing your immense thundering personal helicopter whenever and wherever you feel like it — illegality, and torment of homeowners, be damned.

********************************

“Every senator in particular wants a nonstop flight to and from wherever they live,” said [Peter] DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat. He noted that a reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration passed last year added even more flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “The airport said, ‘Don’t do it.’ And they did it. So they added to what DCA said is already an overly congested and over-capacity airport.” (Congress has added more than 60 new flights to Reagan since 2000, over the objections of airport officials.)

… The airport authority said, “We are over capacity. We cannot accommodate more flights, and we think this is going to be disruptive.” Unfortunately, … Congress mandated adding more flights into National Airport, so that more senators can have direct flights. I was chairman of the committee, and I always had to connect somewhere. I didn’t ask for a direct flight. So, that’s a problem. That is a problem, the political influence over the airport, as most recently exhibited in the last FAA bill. So, I think we might need to revisit the amount of traffic.

How third world, my dears. Bigass military egos, bigass senatorial egos, and here we are. Disgusting.

Margaret Soltan, February 1, 2025 4:40PM
Posted in: just plain gross

Trackback URL for this post:
https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-trackback.php?p=78514

6 Responses to “‘I see all of the many, many, many helicopter flights following that same flight path. They come right down over the marina. And it’s one thing, when there’s an urgent need or a security issue, to move people by military helicopter to the White House or from one base to another in the D.C. area. It’s another to do it for convenience for generals and “very important people” who don’t want to sit in traffic.’”

  1. Rita Says:
    February 1st, 2025 at 7:22PM

    But Reagan’s appeal is so much greater since it’s right on the Metro and gets you into the city in 15 mins. Dulles requires an extra hour just to get through the country’s most poorly-designed airport, not to speak of getting from airport to the city on whatever combination of bus/train/taxi you can cobble together. It seems obvious that demand to fly to DCA would grow.

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:
    February 1st, 2025 at 10:54PM

    But the VIPs don’t take Metro; that’s for ordinary people who don’t order up limos and copters. If demand for Reagan were rational – having nothing to do w/ under-used direct flights senators bully the place into providing, or with fancy ego trip trips – it would far likelier grow in a meaningful and non-dangerous way. Organically, if you like.

  3. Rita Says:
    February 2nd, 2025 at 2:35PM

    But if they get a helicopter, what do they need the DCA flight for? They can copter from Dulles. I think plenty of them do take the metro. I’ve seen them there sometimes. Plus many more people from all over the country have business with the fed govt than did a couple decades ago. Growth seems inevitable, but maybe re-routing the copters would be a good idea. Or building better transit to Dulles! That’s been decades in the making.

    Sometimes even VIPs have to live like the rest of us. Ted Cruz lives near me and we occasionally see him shopping at our Whole Foods, like a pleb.

  4. Margaret Soltan Says:
    February 2nd, 2025 at 3:50PM

    I think I read that they’ve grounded copters for the moment around Reagan. No doubt rethinking the whole idea.

    Can plebes ever be said to go to Whole Foods? I think they’re in Costco.

  5. Rita Says:
    February 2nd, 2025 at 5:33PM

    Ha, you betray your own frou-frou bias. Costco is the expensive Sam’s Club. But you can’t expect him to lower himself to the level of Kroger, can you? At least he’s carrying his own bags.

  6. Margaret Soltan Says:
    February 2nd, 2025 at 5:57PM

    It’s true I’m a tad too frou-frou for this world. I’m extremely hazy about the differences among Sam’s, Costco, Kroger’s, and … others?

    I don’t food shop at all. That’s Mr UD’s domain.

Comment on this Entry

UD REVIEWED

Dr. Bernard Carroll, known as the "conscience of psychiatry," contributed to various blogs, including Margaret Soltan's University Diaries, for which he sometimes wrote limericks under the name Adam.
New York Times

George Washington University English professor Margaret Soltan writes a blog called University Diaries, in which she decries the Twilight Zone-ish state our holy land’s institutes of higher ed find themselves in these days.
The Electron Pencil

It’s [UD's] intellectual honesty that makes her blog required reading.
Professor Mondo

There's always something delightful and thought intriguing to be found at Margaret Soltan's no-holds-barred, firebrand tinged blog about university life.
AcademicPub

You can get your RDA of academic liars, cheats, and greedy frauds at University Diaries. All disciplines, plus athletics.
truffula, commenting at Historiann

Margaret Soltan at University Diaries blogs superbly and tirelessly about [university sports] corruption.
Dagblog

University Diaries. Hosted by Margaret Soltan, professor of English at George Washington University. Boy is she pissed — mostly about athletics and funding, the usual scandals — but also about distance learning and diploma mills. She likes poems too. And she sings.
Dissent: The Blog

[UD belittles] Mrs. Palin's degree in communications from the University of Idaho...
The Wall Street Journal

Professor Margaret Soltan, blogging at University Diaries... provide[s] an important voice that challenges the status quo.
Lee Skallerup Bessette, Inside Higher Education

[University Diaries offers] the kind of attention to detail in the use of language that makes reading worthwhile.
Sean Dorrance Kelly, Harvard University

Margaret Soltan's ire is a national treasure.
Roland Greene, Stanford University

The irrepressibly to-the-point Margaret Soltan...
Carlat Psychiatry Blog

Margaret Soltan, whose blog lords it over the rest of ours like a benevolent tyrant...
Perplexed with Narrow Passages

Margaret Soltan is no fan of college sports and her diatribes on the subject can be condescending and annoying. But she makes a good point here...
Outside the Beltway

From Margaret Soltan's excellent coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal comes this tip...
Money Law

University Diaries offers a long-running, focused, and extremely effective critique of the university as we know it.
Anthony Grafton, American Historical Association

The inimitable Margaret Soltan is, as usual, worth reading. ...
Medical Humanities Blog

I awake this morning to find that the excellent Margaret Soltan has linked here and thereby singlehandedly given [this blog] its heaviest traffic...
Ducks and Drakes

As Margaret Soltan, one of the best academic bloggers, points out, pressure is mounting ...
The Bitch Girls

Many of us bloggers worry that we don’t post enough to keep people’s interest: Margaret Soltan posts every day, and I more or less thought she was the gold standard.
Tenured Radical

University Diaries by Margaret Soltan is one of the best windows onto US university life that I know.
Mary Beard, A Don's Life

[University Diaries offers] a broad sense of what's going on in education today, framed by a passionate and knowledgeable reporter.
More magazine, Canada

If deity were an elected office, I would quit my job to get her on the ballot.
Notes of a Neophyte

Archives

Categories