AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2024 - 16

ON COURSE
DC Flyover prep
High stakes, big reward
BY KOLLIN STAGNITO / Editor in Chief
AOPA Foundation Legacy Society member
" ARE WE REALLY going to be able to pull this off? " I thought. It
was not the sentiment I wanted to feel during the penultimate
pilot briefing just 22 hours prior to AOPA's National Celebration
of General Aviation D.C. Flyover.
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 slowand
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 nonchronological
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
16
AOPA PILOT / August 2024
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.
kollin.stagnito@aopa.org
KOLLIN STAGNITO, AOPA
senior vice president of media,
is a commercial pilot, ground
instructor, and owner of a
1953 Cessna 170B.
http://www.aopa.org/pilot/aug24 http://www.aopa.org/pilot/aug24
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2024

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