Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (KBWI) is a major Class B international airport in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, roughly midway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It offers three physical runways including two full-length, ILS-equipped strips, and sits within the busy Potomac Approach/Departure environment alongside Washington Dulles and Reagan National. For a simulator pilot it presents a realistic slice of dense East Coast airline and cargo traffic mixed with general aviation operations.
KBWI, officially Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, is a large public airport owned and operated by the Maryland Aviation Administration (MDOT MAA). It serves the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas and is an operating base for Southwest Airlines. The field is named after Thurgood Marshall, a Baltimore native and the first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. For a sim pilot, BWI offers a busy Class B airport with long, ILS-served runways and heavy mixed jet and turboprop traffic, making it a good test of controlled-airspace procedures.
BWI lies within Class B airspace in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, about 9 miles south of downtown Baltimore and some 30 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. It is one of three major airports serving the Washington-Baltimore region, alongside Washington Dulles International and Ronald Reagan Washington National. Approach and departure control in the area is provided by Potomac Approach and Potomac Departure.
BWI has three physical runways. Runway 10/28 is the longest, a hard-surfaced, lit runway of roughly 9,932 to 9,985 feet with ILS approaches available at both ends. Runway 04/22 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of 5,975 feet without an instrument landing system. Runway 15L/33R is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of 4,972 feet, also equipped with ILS at both ends. Field elevation is 131 feet.
Air traffic at BWI is worked by Potomac Approach on 119 MHz and Potomac Departure on 126.75 MHz. The tower operates on 119.4 MHz, with ground control on 121.9 MHz. Clearance delivery is available on 118.05 MHz, and the airport ATIS broadcasts on 115.1 MHz. A remote radio outlet, Leesburg Radio, is listed on 122.2 MHz, and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. Instrument approaches are available to runways 10/28 and 15L/33R, both equipped with ILS.
Planning for a new airport to serve the Baltimore-Washington region began in 1944, with the Baltimore Aviation Commission selecting a site near Linthicum Heights, Maryland. Much of the land was purchased from Friendship Methodist Church, which held its final service in 1948 before being razed for the airfield, and 170 burials from a local cemetery were relocated to make way for construction. Ground was broken on May 2, 1947, and the airport opened as Friendship International Airport, dedicated by President Harry S. Truman on June 24, 1950. Airline operations moved to the new field from the old Baltimore Municipal Airport at Harbor Field the following month, with Eastern Airlines flying the first scheduled service, a Douglas DC-3, just after midnight on July 23, 1950. The airport briefly served as Washington, D.C.'s de facto jet airport in 1959, before Dulles International opened, because early Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s could not use Washington National. By 1963 the field had a runway of about 9,450 feet to accommodate jet traffic. On October 1, 2005, the airport was renamed Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in honour of the Baltimore-born Supreme Court justice.
BWI remains the busiest airport in the Baltimore-Washington region, operated by the Maryland Aviation Administration and serving as an operating base for Southwest Airlines. Alongside its extensive scheduled passenger and cargo operations, the airport maintains a corporate and general aviation function. It is owned and managed by the same authority responsible for Martin State Airport (KMTN) in Maryland.
