On Saturday, June 11, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will operate several low-level aircraft approaches below 1,000 feet in the vicinity of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Pentagon, and portions of Maryland, Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Pilots for the FAA's Flight Inspection
Services will fly a blue and white Lear Jet 60 at very low altitudes
near the airport to conduct airborne inspections of all the space- and
ground-based instrument flight procedures.
One of the aircraft's flight paths will
take it over the Pentagon at about 200 feet above the ground on approach
to runway 15 at National Airport. The tests will begin around 6 a.m. and will be complete by about 8:30 a.m.
The FAA's Flight Inspection Services
provides airborne inspections of the electronic signals from
navigational aids that support aircraft departure, enroute and arrival
procedures throughout the nation's airspace system. They evaluate flight
procedures and surveillance systems for accuracy, aeronautical data,
flyability and obstacle clearance. They also perform inspections on all
Department of Defense navigational facilities that are designated as
essential to the defense of the U.S
