Where do you live in D.C. #13

Where do we live in D.C.?

We live near the flight path for Reagan National Airport.  

Our building is located near the Potomac River.  We can watch the planes as the fly by our apartment.  Since Greg enjoys watching planes, he is one happy camper, especially since he can watch from the couch.  

A plane approaching Reagan National Airport, as viewed from our apartment

The Potomac River is the path that pilots use when approaching or departing the airport.  So, during the busy times of the day, Greg can watch a plane fly by every couple of minutes.  

The noise is not bad.  Even when the windows are open, the noise from the planes is less than the periodic sirens blaring from the nearby firehouse.  After a while, we hardly noticed the aircraft noise.  

Below is a map showing the locations of the airport (DCA at the bottom), the flight paths over the river (red and blue lines) and our apartment building (red arrow).  

You might also notice the purple shapes in the map above.  The circle is the residence of the Vice President and the other purple shape covers the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court and a bunch of museums and federal agencies.  Straying from the approved flight path, let alone entering the prohibited airspace, is very, very bad.   

We also live near another flight path, one for helicopters.  The path follows Rock Creek Parkway, which runs right next to our building.  In the map below, the paths are depicted as thick lines and dotted lines.  Our apartment is marked by the red arrow.  One of the dotted lines passes close to the red arrow.

Since the flight path is close and since helicopters fly much lower than planes, the helicopters are very, very loud.  Whenever a helicopter flies by, Greg imagines a scene from the film Apocalypse Now, with military helicopters attacking. 

Scene from Apocalypse Now (1979) 

You might think Greg is overreacting.  However, the helicopters flying around D.C. are not small, quiet commercial helicopters.  Many of them are large, powerful military aircraft (like the one pictured below).  Plus, there are a lot of them.  Research revealed that there are hundreds of helicopter flights every day in D.C.  Finally, it seems that the flight path is merely a suggestion, since large helicopters sometimes fly directly overhead.  So, Greg is overreacting, but only somewhat.  

The good news is that the air space around D.C. is tightly controlled.  A special zone extends 35 miles in all directions from Washington.  The number and type of aircraft allowed in the zone are limited and the flights are closely monitored.  Good news.  

P.S.  The noise from helicopters in D.C. is not that bad.  It fact, it is nothing like the frequent rumbling we experienced while visiting Paris a few years ago.  The apartment we rented was in an old building directly over a subway line.  So, from 12:30-5:30 am, sleep was undisturbed.  At other times, not so much.  We could feel the trains roll underneath every few minutes.  We eventually got used to it.  If there is one thing The 10 Year Plan has taught us, you can used to almost anything.  Who knew?