The President has changed the way the U.S. will celebrate the Fourth of July this year, and that has a big impact on operations at Washington’s close-in National airport.
Big 4th of July in D.C. “Salute to America.” The Pentagon & our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this & showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World. Incredible Flyovers & biggest ever Fireworks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2019
Here’s when commercial airspace will have to shut down:
- This year’s 4th of July celebrations will include a flyover of military jets. Washington National’s air traffic will shut down from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.
- The fireworks show will be elongated and will shut down air traffic from 9 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. Normally air traffic doesn’t shut down for the fireworks, but their launch point was moved to accommodate the President speaking at the Lincoln Memorial.
All told, then, it’s expected that DC’s air traffic will shut down for 2 hours 15 minutes as a result of changes to the July 4th program this year.
Four years ago the FAA dropped Trump-branded navigational waypoints in South Florida. Now as President he has the power to shut down commercial airspace.
If there’s any silver lining, it’s that there are likely to be thunderstorms on the Fourth that ruin his taxpayer-funded campaign rally and would have caused air delays/cancellations anyway.
Think this is #8 on Bill Maher’s 10 Signs Your President is a Dictator
The man’s ego knows no boundaries. He’s going to ruin the Fourth of July. What’s next, Thanksgiving?
@Adam, I believe most parades are tax-payer funded no? Even the ones in states with leaders from the Democratic party. Fire works and military equipment are common place in many parades along with tax-payer funded and paid fire equipment and police vehicles. I hate when political posts make their way into my travel hobby. So annoying.
@Mike – the first time DC’s 4th of July is leading to the closure of the area’s main airport seemed interesting to me. I leave it up to the reader to judge whether or not the closure is worthwhile (there really aren’t a lot of passengers traveling in the evening on the fourth of July by the way)
Our thoughtless leader of travel is soo political and grumpy. Sounds like best July 4th celebration ever.
The man has no shame and no sense of right and wrong . He sees nothing wrong with his campaign accepting election help from a foreign power. That utterly astounding statement in his interview with Stephanopoulos speaks volumes about Trump.
On the 4th of July the nation should be united in celebrating America and the principles upon which this country was founded. Donald Trump will use our Independence Day to further divide America, politicizes the military, and aggrandize himself. The poor man can’t help himself. Sad.
Well, the upside of the shutdown is that some more people may see the fireworks in DC, whether or not they want to see it.
Did Trump invite his buddy from North Korea to come to DC and welcome the North Korean leader in a way so he wouldn’t feel too homesick?
It’ll be the biggest gathering in DC. Ever.
Mike says ” Fire works and military equipment are common place in many parades along with tax-payer funded and paid fire equipment and police vehicles”
Name some of these many you speak of.
This is political bullshit from the bullshitter in chief.
President Trump, I would like to have a military parade to celebrate the founding of the nation
Media: “a disaster of biblical proportions…..Old Testament….real wrath-of-God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! ….Earthquakes, volcanoes….The dead rising from the grave!….Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – MASS HYSTERIA!” (Obviously, quote is from “Ghostbusters”). I just have this picture of all these talking heads exploding with rage a la “Kingsman: The Secret Service.”
Seriously, for a parade. You would think people would get tired of the over the top crazy hyperbole.
I think I read this blog for travel related stories not poltical. Better start a new blog that’s political Gary leaf
40% chance of rain. Better than his odds of beating Hillary. Maybe Putin can help rig the weather, too.
@OTS – this is the president who just came back from a trip cozying up to Putin, MBS, and Kim (and who stiff-arms our democratic allies)…that ‘Murican enough for you?
@UA-NYC. I think you mean me. Watching Rachel Maddow again. It is sad. When I was growing up, the left wing were really smart. Somewhere along the line, they lost the ability to think critically. Now they mindless repeat almost verbatim left wing talking points.
You do realize that Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, Husband of Hillary, Bush, Obama all tried to work with Russia and North Korea. Even Never-President Hillary tried to work with them as Secretary of State. Google “Hillary reset button” if you do not believe me. Also, they all worked with Saudi Arabia. Why? Common sense, Russia and North Korea are nuclear powers and Saudi Arabia is a large middle East Regional Power with lots of oil. Is it “ok” to say DUH now. So President Trump is doing the same thing and CNN goes nuts. Brainless retards.
@otherjustsaying The notion of a Trump supporter suggesting others lack the ability for critical thinking had to be one of the more ironic (and highly amusing) things I’ve read in a while. Thanks for the laugh.
This doesn’t affect Joe Biden thankfully. He’s hanging out with some of his segregationist pals at that time.
Ah life in DC.
Oh and by the way many of our local parades have police, fire and yes military vehicles. Many NFL games have fly overs and those aren’t even patriotic, obviously.
Sure, parades are taxpayer funded so what’s the big deal, right? In this case, the funds are being diverted from the Parks service, to the tune of $2.5 million.
Gary did not give a political opinion on the parade route but put out an informative, factual post on how it would impact travel, which is indeed the focus of this blog. But am I surprised that the Trump fans would get on his case for pointing out anything that might make Trump look bad? Of course not!
Hah, I always said voting for him was a good way to punish the clowns in DC, I hope this causes a lot of inconvenience for various congress losers and lobbyists!
@StillLaughing. I stick with it. I think those with Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) act like they had a stroke. They have lost some of their ability to think and talk about actual policies, they make ad hominem attacks against Trump, his family, and his supporters in inappropriate places, they are given to sudden strong emotions (anger and crying), and unrelated objects and situations cause them to rant about Trump and his policies. For example, the cup reminds the TDS person of Trump and causes uncontrolled rage. Their boyfriend or girlfriend (who also has TDS) reminds them of Trump and sends them ranting uncontrollably: Cannot have sex because of Trump. They cannot even enjoy a dinner and a glass of wine without freaking about about Trump. Every movie and TV program (even if was from the 1930s and 1940s) is sending secret symbols about Trump. I see it every day, I live in New York City.
I think if they did brain scans, they would find some sort of TDS associated frontal lobe damage. It is a chicken/egg sort of thing. I am not sure whether the stroke/frontal lobe damage caused the TDS, or the TDS cause the stroke/frontal lobe damage. But I am just saying, something isn’t quite right with these people.
I can confirm that they don’t normally shut down DCA for the fireworks because I used to live in Crystal City, and we had a great view of the fireworks (and airport) from the roof of our building, so the first year we lived there we were watching the fireworks and I saw a plan landing from the North, and a firework went off not far from it, so some passengers got a great view of the fireworks, and perhaps a few wet pants from it being so close.
OJS apparently can’t do anything other than lapse into incoherent MAGA taking points that lack all substance and anything approaching coherent thought.
Trump is enriching himself and his family members and cronies. It will be a stain on the USA in hindsight. Dems in 2020 will have to clean up the mess. Thankfully they got a head start in 2018.
How about the numerous times The Clinton’s and Obama flew into LAX (almost quarterly) to raise funds. Not only were flights affected, but traffic routes, already normally bumper to bumper, we seriously impacted. Roads were closed (except for local residents in the area) for each visit.
So, to be fair, all dignitaries cause issues when they travel.
Eminem sang:
“Brain damage, ever since the day I was born
Drugs, what they used to say I was on
They say I never knew which way I was goin’
But everywhere I go they keep playin’ my song”
BTW: Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known professionally as Eminem, has serious TDS.
Elect a clown, expect a circus. The Kim/Putin copycat is at it again, willing to tear up the streets with the weight of the tanks, and taking over a true American holiday to make it into a political rally. And his base just squeals in delight.
DLF=TDS=Brain Damaged. So sad.
Now now, don’t start whining like a Brit cigarette. It’s the Forth of July! Besides several presidents have done this and given speches, and even had planes and tanks. Read a little history for cryin out loud and you’ll see I know what I’m talking about (unlike MSNBC).
Just sit at home and stew about how you hate our country and plot something, like maybe how to disrupt Christmas. I’ll be cooking out and setting off fireworks and remembering how great it is to be an American.
Apparently they can’t even give away the tickets to the MAGA mouth breathers. And the military top brass doesn’t want to attend. Looking forward to seeing empty seats in the VIP section and it being spun that they had to turn away thousands.
NYC – how do you know the military personnel (that have been invited) don’t want to attend? I haven’t seen anything in the military trades covering their attendance.
@DLF – “Elect a clown, expect a circus”. Probably the best line I’ve read in a week. Thanks.
@DT – Politico article from Wed, easily found
From the less hysterical media reports I read, it was apparently a great patriotic show that was well attended. Well worth shutting down the airspace on a night that almost no one was flying.