| Date | Airline | Flight | Type | Regn | Routing | Time | Miles | Remarks | ||
| Back | 03 Jul 17 | VX | 2 | A321-253N(W) | N921VA | DCA-SFO | 5:14 | 2468 mi | neo kid on the block | Next |
I made plans for the 4th of July weekend to fly the westbound dinner flight on Virgin America's A321neo service from Washington DC (DCA) to San Francisco. Since I'd already flown the eastbound service a month earlier, I was hoping to get the 2nd Virgin America A321neo, N922VA, but a few days out I started tracking the planes flying the JFK and DCA services from SFO and it looked like N922VA would be doing JFK come flight day.
After a late arrival into DCA from Denver and getting to the hotel around 2am, I was up quite early. I asked for and got a room overlooking the airport. Much to my surprise there was also a rail line next to the hotel. My first indication of this was my perception of diesel locomotive engines close by. I got to the window in time to see two CSX locomotives pulling a manifest freight past the hotel. I couldn't react quick enough to get the camera battery installed and get the locomotives but I got some photos of some rail cars. Not long after that an Amtrak came by, followed by several more Amtraks during the course of the morning. One more CSX train rolled through: an empty coal train. Due to the thickness of the window glazing, the trains were barely perceptible and often I didn't realize they were rolling by until they were past a bit.
Checkout time was 12 noon so I prepared to depart for the airport on the 1140 shuttle bus.
General view of the south end of the airport. The Washington D.C. "Metro" serves the airport with frequent service.
Northbound Amtrak P42 #146 pulling a Northeast Direct diesel service:
Northbound Amtrak P42 #23 and P32-8 #513 pulling a Northeast Direct diesel service:
Southbound Amtrak P42 #140 and North Carolina DOT F59PHI #1797 pulling a Northeast Direct diesel service:
Northbound CSX coal empties pulled by #820 and #3373 rumble past:
Virgin America A321neo N921VA arriving from SFO as VX #1:
N921VA pulling in to gate 24:
Gate 24 at DCA:
Reflection in the terminal windows:
The Pentagon after takeoff from runway 1:
Dulles International Airport about 6 minutes after departure:
Warm nuts after departure:
Tomato Watermelon Gazpacho:
Lemongrass Chicken main course:
Dark chocolate tart for desert:
After dinner coffee with Bailey's:
First Class cabin:
Looking southeast:
We flew quite south of Denver:
Warm chocolate chip cookie:
321 miles to go to SFO:
My "lifer" China Airlines A350 arrived shortly after I did. Not surprisingly, the EVA Air flight was right behind it all the way:
Those pesky black dots on the windows sure make photos a challenge:
Flight Aware screenshot of Vigin America #2 operating DCA-SFO.
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