i was spotting today from my window, as i live in Mclean, VA and i saw a plane that is too long to be an A320 descending over the potomac river toward National airport to land Via Rwy 19 i guess. now the plane was too long to be an A320, i think that it either be a USA321 or a 757.

any help here?

National will shortly (or has very recently) recommence(d) DCA ops. They only operate 752's.

thanks yyz
any more information?

As of July AA has two daily 757 flts into DCA...Hopefully DL, US and NW will follow soon...

I thought they weren't allowed to fly 757s into DCA after 9/11. Has this changed?

Also, I thought DCA was only allowed to have flights within a certain radius. I know National went in there when I was there last year, and I saw a LAS-DCA flight while I was in Vegas, but was there a radius & has this been changed?

Anyway, great to see DCA getting 757s again!

DeltaRules

I don't think there are any radius restrictions. US operates a non-stop flight to and from Orlando (MCO) on a A319. Also, I would think that if National Airlines flies into DCA, then there would be no more 757 restrictions. And, as mentioned above, AA has resumed 757 service as of July.

Now that I think about it, I can find no legitimate reason why 757's were not allowed into DCA anyway. Would Pentagon workers get uncomfortable seeing a 757 on approach or departure? Who knows...

Why are 757s banned?

If its because it was used on 9-11 for the Pentagon, then thats rediculous. An A320 or 737-800 could do a lot of damage too.

its rediculous that an aircraft type is banned for that reason.

The 757 was banned because all aircraft that seat more than (I believe) 159 pax were not allowed to fly to DCA post 9-11. It has nothing to do with the fact that one was used to hit the Pentagon.

Even so, it is foolish to ban airplanes that carry more than 159 passengers. 159 is just some arbitrary number. There's no reason for it. Passenger count doesn't affect the potential damage a fully-fueled airplane can inflict on a building when used as a missle.

Were there any restrictions at LaGuardia? I can think of none. LaGuardia is just miles from Manhattan, and receives aircraft as big as 764's.

I agree, I am not sure what their rationale was except that perhaps they wanted to limit the total number of passengers going through DCA and through security, and keeping the equip. size smaller is one way to do that

159 was a number that Arizona senator John McCain pushed for to protect his beloved hometown airline America West's market share into DCA by excluding the 757 operators (think National).

Jesus America, you really need better leadership. You don't deserve any of this, from 9/11 onwards.

The National flight is one of 6 that can operate beyond the 1250 mile perimeter rule DCA has. These special slots were awarded about 2 years ago. The other airlines in this are:

America West(2x PHX, 1x LAS)
Alaska(1x SEA)(Used to be used by TWA to LAX, AA had to give it up when TWA was purchased)
Frontier(1x DEN).

Notice how America West received three of the 6 slots. Also notice that John McCain pushed for those slots. Who wants to make a bet that if McCain becomes president, a bill will be made saying any american airlines with the letters H and P in their codes are exempt from paying landing fees?

Frontier is trying to get a 3rd and 4th slot to start a 2nd round-trip to DCA from DEN.

I doubt they'll get it though.

Regards

I hope Frontier gets those slots. The more, the better, the sooner aviation in America returns to normal.

I finally saw a 757 yesterday at DCA. It was an AA aircraft and arrived between 4 and 5 pm.

UA has put the 757 back on the schedule for some DCA-ORD flights during peak times. Starting this month.

Don't bust McCain's chops over the HP slots, he was doing what he was elected to do...getting good things for his home state. HP is a major employer in AZ and trust me, he's not the only person in DC pushing his home state's economy.