Washington DC vacation planespotting

[Michael Blakely]

Just got back from a weeks vacation in Washington DC with my family. They were gracious enough to go wtih me to BOTH of the Smithsonian Air and Space museums. I've been to the main museum on the mall many times, but this was my first trip to the Stephen Udvar-Hazy center. One word: Fabulous! From the SR-71 to the space shuttle Discovery, to the Enola Gay, to the original Boeing Dash-80 (707) it was just one treat after another.

The Space Shuttle is HUGE! Much bigger than I ever expected it to be.

[Michael Blakely]

We ate a picnic lunch in the parking lot. Since it's right between the two runnways at Washington Dulles airport, and traffic was landing toward the North, we could watch the planes on approach.

After lunch, we went into the tower you can see behind us in the first lunch shot. It's 160 feet high and less than a mile from runway 01R, so the arriving aircraft were at eye level as you passed. The IAD-TWR controller's audio feed was playing over the speakers in the room.

[Michael Blakely]

I also saw my first up-close Concorde at the Udvar-Hazy center. The windows are teeny tiny. Maybe 1/4 the size of regular commercial jet windows.

[Norberto Rivera]

Awesome pictures Mike! I wish I had known you were here. Our new apartment is 5 minutes away from the museum. Maybe next time!

[Theodore Martin]

Love the pic of you and the SR-71 . Very nice shot.

[Rey Ramon]

I live about 1.5 to about 2 hours away as well....just saying...

[Michael Natale]

That's great. Me, my wife and son went down to see the SASM a few weeks back. I love the Airbus cockpit sim at the very front by the 747 display. My son is addicted to aircraft and much to my wife's dismay we watched all the approaching aircraft on the Mt Vernon visual for quite a while one afternoon while walking back from Arlington. She was not so enthused by we had a blast!

[Michael Blakely]

That's great. Me, my wife and son went down to see the SASM a few weeks back. I love the Airbus cockpit sim at the very front by the 747 display. My son is addicted to aircraft and much to my wife's dismay we watched all the approaching aircraft on the Mt Vernon visual for quite a while one afternoon while walking back from Arlington. She was not so enthused by we had a blast!

My son and I took my wife over to the airbus cockpit mock-up/sim and told her we were going to build one in our game room. She said something like, "OK, but then I get the whole first floor for ....." I forget what she claimed it for. After the "OK" I started dreaming and tuned out. Sorry honey