Aviation in Washington, D.C.#Organizations

File:Professor Thaddeus Lowe's Balloon Gas Generators. The U.S. Capitol in background, Washington, DC, circa 1861., 1899 - 19 - NARA - 512776 RETOUCHED.jpg's gas generators in 1861]]

The first aeronautical event was the tethered demonstration flight of a hot air balloon, the Enterprise, by Thaddeus S. C. Lowe to Abraham Lincoln. The flight included the demonstration of a balloon-to-ground telegraph, resulting in Lowe being appointed to the newly created position of Chief Aeronaut.{{cite book|title=The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia|author=Spencer C. Tucker}}

File:USSAkronOverWashingtonDC.jpg, as a backdrop to the USS Akron in 1931 or 1932.]]

• 1861: Professor Lowe demonstrates hot air balloons for Abraham Lincoln
• 1910: Claude Grahame-White lands a Farman biplane on the street between the White House and State, War and Navy Department buildings on October 11{{cite journal|title=Aero Club of Washington: Aviation in the Nation's Capital, 1909-1914|author=Tom D. Crouch|page=46}}
• 1911: On July 13, Harry Nelson Atwood flies circles around the Washington Monument. The next day he lands on the White House lawn, accepting a gold medal of the Aero Club of Washington presented by President William Howard Taft.{{cite book|title=Famous first facts about American politics|author=Steven Anzovin, Janet Podell}}
• 1913: Godfrey de C. Chevalier flew a Curtiss Flying Boat from the Washington Navy Yard for the longest of the time all-over-water flight, with a route down the Potomac, and up the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis, Maryland of 169 miles.{{cite journal|journal=Aero and Hydro|date=May 17, 1913}}
• 1921: The first blimp filled with helium flew from Hampton Roads Virginia to Washington, D.C., on its maiden voyage.{{cite journal|journal=Popular Mechanics|date=Feb 1922}}
• 1931: Pilot James G. Ray landed a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogyro on the south lawn of the White House.
• 1936: The Autogiro Company of America AC-35 Roadable aircraft was landed in downtown Washington to demonstrate to the Bureau of Air Commerce.
• 1939: Pilot Francisco Sarabia was killed in the crash of the Gee Bee Q.E.D. at Bolling Airfield after setting record flights to America from Mexico.
• 1974: U.S. Army private Robert Preston takes off in a stolen Army Bell UH-1 Iroquois in Maryland, and flies it to Washington, D.C., where he hovers close to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and over the South Lawn of the White House. After looping back through Maryland and into D.C. with police helicopters in pursuit, he lands on the South Lawn of the White House. Preston enrolled in the Army to become a helicopter pilot, but after failing to pass his training course he was instead given the occupation of helicopter mechanic for the rest of his 4-year enlistment. Preston believed that this situation was unfair and later said that he stole the helicopter to show his skill as a pilot. After landing, he was arrested and sentenced to 1 year in prison, 6 months of which was time served.{{cite news|last=Madden|first=Richard L.|date=February 18, 1974|title=Soldier Lands Stolen Copter on White House Lawn|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/18/archives/soldier-lands-a-stolen-copter-on-white-house-lawn-soldier-lands.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=January 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229210012/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/18/archives/soldier-lands-a-stolen-copter-on-white-house-lawn-soldier-lands.html|archive-date=December 29, 2019}}{{cite magazine|last=Freeze|first=Christopher|date=April–May 2017|title=Robert Preston's Wild Ride – The Time a Stolen Helicopter Landed on the White House Lawn|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/prestons-wild-white-house-ride-180962400/|magazine=Air & Space/Smithsonian|publisher=National Air and Space Museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323055249/http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/prestons-wild-white-house-ride-180962400/|archive-date=March 23, 2017|access-date=March 22, 2017|url-status=live}}
• 1982: On January 13 an Air Florida 737 crashed into the Potomac river. The rescues performed by the helicopters of the United States Park Police were shown live on television.
• 2001: The September 11 attacks caused the formation of the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone, temporarily closing, then permanently restricting air operations around Washington, D.C.{{cite news |newspaper=The Sun|title=Aviators rejoice over reopening of airspace; 3 airports still closed under FAA restrictions|date=Dec 21, 2001}}
• 2015: Pilot Doug Hughes lands an autogyro on the Capital Mall and is arrested on federal charges 84 years after James G. Ray demonstrates an autogyro landing on the mall receiving a Collier Trophy for safety from president Herbert Hoover.{{cite web|title=Man Arrested After Landing Gyrocopter By Capitol|date=15 April 2015|url=http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Man-Arrested-After-Landing-Gyrocopter-By-Capitol-223865-1.html|accessdate=15 April 2015}}{{cite book|title=The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey|author=Richard Whittle|page=16}}
• 2015: On May 8, formations of World War II vintage military aircraft flew through Washington, D.C.'s restricted airspace to honor the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.{{cite journal|journal=Sport Aviation|date=March 2015|page=14|title=Arsenal of Democracy}}
• 2015: On May 15, the FAA markets Washington, D.C., as a "No Drone Zone".{{cite web|title=FAA Starts No Drone Zone|date=15 May 2015|url=http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/FAA-Starts-No-Drone-Zone-Campaign-For-Washington-224091-1.html|accessdate=15 May 2015}}{{cite web|title=FAA No Drone Zone|url=http://www.faa.gov/uas/no_drone_zone/|accessdate=15 May 2015}}

• Christmas Aeroplane Company 1910–1912 founded in Washington, D.C., to build designs of Dr. Christmas.{{cite journal|journal=Automobile Journal |volume=33}}
• Gyro Motor Company 1909- maker of early rotary engines.
• Rex Smith Aeroplane Company 1910–1916, was headquartered in Washington, D.C., with production in nearby College Park, Maryland.{{cite journal|journal=Aeronautics|year=1910}}
• Washington Aeroplane Company maker of the Christmas Biplane, and Columbia monoplane powered with a Gyro Motor Company rotary engine.{{cite journal|journal=Automobile Journal|volume=33 |page=64}}{{cite journal|journal=Automobile Journal|volume=34 |page=68}}
• Boeing, known for designing and manufacturing both commercial and defense aircraft, is headquartered in nearby Arlington, Virginia.

• American Propeller Manufacturing Company was founded in 1909 and moved to Baltimore in 1912. The company made Paragon wooden propellers.

Most large Defense Contractors choose to have branch offices in Washington, D.C., for access to policy and budgetary decision makers.

{{Main|List of airports serving Washington, D.C.}}

File:DCA and Washington VA1.jpg in Crystal City, Virginia in June 2017 with Washington, D.C. visible in the background]]

Washington, D.C., does not have any public airports within its boundaries. The city is serviced by Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia; Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Crystal City, Virginia; and Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Dulles is the primary international airport for the Washington metropolitan region while Reagan National is the primary domestic airport.

Washington, D.C., has 13 listed heliports.

• List of heliports in Washington, D.C.

• The Aero Club of Washington was founded on 23 January 1909, with Thomas Francis Walsh as president. ACW merged with the National Aeronautic Association in 1929.{{cite journal|title=Aero Club of Washington: Aviation in the Nation's Capital, 1909-1914|author=Tom D. Crouch|page=39}}
• Air Transport Association is headquartered in Washington, D.C., represents the airline industry.{{cite book |title=Air Transportation |last=Kane |first=Robert |year=2003 |publisher=Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company |location=Dubuque, IA |isbn=0-7872-8881-0 |pages=349–350 }}
• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is a professional society in the field of aerospace engineering.
• The Aviation Institute of U.S.A was founded in Washington, D.C., by Walter Hinton, pilot of the Curtiss NC "NC-4", the first aircraft to make a transatlantic flight, in 1919.{{cite journal|journal=Popular Aeronautics|date=Jan 1930|page=67}}
• Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International moved to Washington in 1982.

File:Baltimore-Washington TAC 84.png.]]

As the capital of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., is the headquarters for many agencies that oversee aviation, influence aviation policy, and use aviation resources.

Government flight operations

• All flight operations in Washington, D.C., are conducted within FAA oversight.
• The White House lawn serves as a heliport for Marine One.
• Anacostia Park is the home to the United States Park Police aviation unit since 1976.

Aviation related government agencies headquartered in Washington, D.C.

• United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation.
• Federal Aviation Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S.
• National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation.
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an executive branch agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's civilian space program and aeronautics and aerospace research

File:Last flight out of Bolling Air Force Base.jpg in 1962.]]

• Bolling Air Force Base opened on the first of July 1918. The last fixed wing flight at the airfield (and Washington, D.C.) was on 1 July 1962. In 2010, Bolling Air Force Base and Naval Support Facility Anacostia were merged into Joint Base Anacostia Bolling. The Naval Support Facility Anacostia operates a large heliport facility to support HMX-1 operations such as Marine One.
• Washington Navy Yard was the location of the first shipboard catapult in 1912, and featured a wind tunnel in 1916.{{cite web|title=NDW History|url=http://www.cnic.navy.mil/NDW/About/History/index.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112060546/http://www.cnic.navy.mil/NDW/About/History/index.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 12, 2011|accessdate=19 April 2011}} It was the test site for torpedo-carrying aircraft prototypes of the Curtiss CT-1, Stout ST-1, Fokker FT-1 and Blackburn Swift F.{{cite book|title=Naval Institute Proceedings, Volume 48, Issues 7-12|author=United States Naval Institute}}{{cite book|title=McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 1920|url=https://archive.org/details/mcdonnelldouglas00fran_0|url-access=registration|author=René J. Francillon|year=1979|isbn=9780370000503}}
• United States Naval Research Laboratory is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps and conducts a program of scientific research and development.

College Park Airfield, College Park, MD. Wright Brothers experimental aeroplane development.

• National Air and Space Museum{{cite web |url=http://www.nasm.si.edu/ |title=Home |website=nasm.si.edu}} is part of the Smithsonian Institution formed in 1946. It features some of aviation's most influential aircraft including the Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, and the Apollo 11 command module.

College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, mD.

{{see also|list of films set in Washington, D.C.|List of television shows set in Washington, D.C.}}

Washington, D.C., is a popular backdrop for aircraft photography.

Transportation in Washington, D.C.

{{Airports in the Baltimore-Washington area}}

{{Reflist}}

Category:Transportation in Washington, D.C.