Anyone else have this issue? Even back in my FS9 days it always felt like KIAD was just empty during the day. I have United AI traffic, Delta, AA and others etc from alpha india and all the regional airline traffic and it still feels empty. Its not an afcad issue because it feels relatively full at night but still not as busy as it should be. Ill land in the afternoon in the B gates and look down and see 20 empty gates with maybe one or 2 occupied by a heavy international jet. Airport just doesnt feel as busy during the day as it does in real life

I've been to Dulles IRL several times, and it's always felt "sleepy" during the day when compared to BWI.

I've always thought that it was due to the large number of long international flights that seem more prevalent in the early morning and late evening.

2 hours ago, MDFlier said:

I've been to Dulles IRL several times, and it's always felt "sleepy" during the day when compared to BWI.

I've always thought that it was due to the large number of long international flights that seem more prevalent in the early morning and late evening.

maybe I can certainly see that. Just very weird to see a big airport like that with no traffic. I fly into LAX/SFO/JFK/DEN/SEA/BOS and gates are full. Fly into IAD? Crickets 

52 minutes ago, Redwood said:

maybe I can certainly see that. Just very weird to see a big airport like that with no traffic. I fly into LAX/SFO/JFK/DEN/SEA/BOS and gates are full. Fly into IAD? Crickets 

Here’s a screenshot of KIAD from google maps. Not sure what time of the day it was taken but it’s pretty empty in real life. Seems weird to me as well.

 

Who flies into Washington anyway?

Just look at the passenger total in 2018 comparism:

LAX 87 Millon passengers

JFK 61 Million passengers  almost tied 50/50 in national and international flights.

SFO 57 Million passengers (huge majority national flights)

Houston 43 Million passengers (3 quarters national flights)

Denver 64 Million (98% of them national)

and then Washington: 24 Million passengers (3 quarters national flights).

This is because there are 3 airports within 30-40 min of Washington DC.   

Dulles does have far less traffic than say BOS or ORD.   But it is one of the largest bizjet airport on the east coast outside NYC.   Also yes the international traffic is staggered to only certain times of day.   Most euro airlines arrive around 4pm timeframe.  Emirates and African airlines early in the morning.  

Also DCA pulls most of the commuter traffic.   And so does BWI.   It really makes Dulles the non commuter hub which is probably tough for United.  Its funny cause pilots hate landing at DCA.  It was built for DC-3s.   Any kind of heavy wind will make them abort.  Largest aircraft to operate there is a Delta 752.  Hate to be that guy landing there.  

I'm sure if you added a 3rd airport north of Chicago the numbers at O'hare would go down.  

Honestly this  allows for great fps so for me it's not a huge deal

11 hours ago, MDFlier said:

I've been to Dulles IRL several times, and it's always felt "sleepy" during the day when compared to BWI.

I've always thought that it was due to the large number of long international flights that seem more prevalent in the early morning and late evening.

Rush hour at KIAD is between 4pm and 8pm when the international flights land. Spent a lot of time IRL there watching!

Edited July 16, 20196 yr by pgde

1 hour ago, pgde said:

Rush hour at KIAD is between 4pm and 8pm when the international flights land. Spent a lot of time IRL there watching!

To add on: UAL flies a LOT of express traffic between these hours so if you don’t have UAX traffic installed it will seem even worse. 

8 hours ago, jason99vmi said:

This is because there are 3 airports within 30-40 min of Washington DC.   

Dulles does have far less traffic than say BOS or ORD.   But it is one of the largest bizjet airport on the east coast outside NYC.   Also yes the international traffic is staggered to only certain times of day.   Most euro airlines arrive around 4pm timeframe.  Emirates and African airlines early in the morning.  

Also DCA pulls most of the commuter traffic.   And so does BWI.   It really makes Dulles the non commuter hub which is probably tough for United.  Its funny cause pilots hate landing at DCA.  It was built for DC-3s.   Any kind of heavy wind will make them abort.  Largest aircraft to operate there is a Delta 752.  Hate to be that guy landing there.  

I'm sure if you added a 3rd airport north of Chicago the numbers at O'hare would go down.  

 

I beg to differ, we absolutely love the River Visual into DCA. It's one of the few times we actually get to be pilots and fly! I've never met a pilot that disliked flying into DCA. It is a blast!

I blame Die Hard 2.

Thanks everyone for the feedback

16 hours ago, busdriver said:

 

I beg to differ, we absolutely love the River Visual into DCA. It's one of the few times we actually get to be pilots and fly! I've never met a pilot that disliked flying into DCA. It is a blast!

I do too in simulation but I don't have 200 lives to worry about.   These guys do.   Or the fact if you accidentally cross into one of the no fly zones you'll probably end your career.   

Veteran AA 738 pilot

https://jethead.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/why-you-should-never-fly-into-washington-national-airport/

 

I've made this approach in real life probably 40 times, both as a first officer and captain, and everyone I've ever flown with loves the approach into DCA. It's not as difficult as made out in the link you provided, provided your on top of your game. I'm sure Jethead is a great pilot, and I guess it comes down to personal preference. I like flying the Expressway Visual into LGA as well. Maybe I'm just a masochist! 

4 hours ago, busdriver said:

I've made this approach in real life probably 40 times, both as a first officer and captain, and everyone I've ever flown with loves the approach into DCA. It's not as difficult as made out in the link you provided, provided your on top of your game. I'm sure Jethead is a great pilot, and I guess it comes down to personal preference. I like flying the Expressway Visual into LGA as well. Maybe I'm just a masochist! 

I think the reasons a lot of sim only pilots feel certain approaches are hard to hand fly is because flying planes in FSX/P3D/XP is harder than in real life. 

I’ve only got around 60 hours of real flight time and in nothing larger than a C172, but I can attest that flying (controlling) a real plane is far easier in real life than in the desk top sim since you can feel what’s happening and have much better visibility and awareness. Even flying certain maneuvers in a sim C172 is hard than it is in real life.

I talked to a Gol pilot in Brasil once who flies regularly into Santos Dumont and flies the well known curved approach over the mountain base, turning over Flamingo beach near Suger Loaf and then short final to runway. In the sim it’s medium hard to difficult to do well, but the pilot I spoke to said there’s really nothing hard about it at all. 

I think a lot of people who have never actually flown an airplane and just flown sims would be surprised how much easier real world flying is from a control standpoint.