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Originally posted by tw
A plane from Dulles would provide a full 10 minutes of warning since the plane would not climb, would immediately violate its flight plan, and would turn immediately into restricted airspace.
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But the West Wing was not evacuated until after American Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. That flight took off from Dulles. And is the area around the Pentagon not restricted airspace? (Not being sarcastic...I am unfamiliar with just what is and is not restricted airspace in DC.) I understand what you're saying in that a plane making a routine landing at National could blow past the runway and hit the city. But we've already seen what a plane can do from Dulles.
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Why does the Metro not stop in Dulles? Plans for it were repeatedly killed since National exists. Kill National, and the Metro will suddenly appear in Dulles where it should have been anyway. Dulles access is only more difficult because National exists - for reasons of Congressional convenience - Washington DC safety be damned.
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Actually, there was talk of making an offshoot of the Metro to reach Dulles...this was as of mid-2000.
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30 miles is standard traveling distance to any airport - and woefully insufficient reason to justify an airport so dangerously close to this city.
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Are you referring strictly to Washington on this?
As I said, I now better understand why National is an accident waiting to happen. My only concern with that rationale though is this: Washington is the capital of the nation, but New York runs the economy. LaGuardia is not that terribly far from Manhattan...should we move it further away? (Although LaGuardia has already had its own troubles). And as I've already mentioned, Bolling AFB sits right across the water from National. Not to mention, the plane that crashed into the 14th Street Bridge back in the early 80s. The 14th Street Bridge sits practically next to the Treasury Dept., and is a hop away from the Capitol.
Realistically, there is no way to guarantee that what happened 3 weeks ago will not happen again. National could be shut down forever as a preventative measure, but truth be told, I believe that DC needs a third airport. 20 million passengers went through Dulles last year, 18 million through BWI, 16 million into National. 7 million people live in the Baltimore-Washington area. Though I've not flown from Dulles, I've flown into BWI...and I felt like I was at O'Hare (although 72 million passengers went through O'Hare last year). So, where do you put a third airport in DC?