A Flight Simulator Odyssey

by Charles Gulick

Little Big Shot

Chart: Washington
Title: LITTLE BIG SHOT
En Route Coordinates:
   Aircraft: N16173, E19994
   Tower: N16161.432, E20043.312
Altitude:
   Aircraft: 1800
   Tower: 314
Heading: 119
Time: Daylight

At this distance you can get some idea of the giant, sprawling Dulles International Airport, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, one of the largest civil airports in the U.S. (if not the largest). Your approach is to the tiniest runway, 11 Left, in order that the 10,000-foot-plus runways can lie in readiness for the big jets. Runway 11L measures about 3000 by 75 feet.

John Foster Dulles, for whom the airport is named, had a distinguished career as a diplomat under Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and Harry Truman. He helped form the United Nations, and was Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Elevation at Dulles is 319 feet. (The tower is near the threshold of Runway 11.)

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