Non-government helicopters rarely get to fly over DC, much less the Capitol Building. Photograph by Flickr user Adam Fagen.
Between the permits and police, filming on Capitol Hill is difficult enough. But getting footage from above the Capitol is almost unheard of these days. Yet that’s what CBS News was able to do last Sunday, when it featured a long helicopter shot of the Capitol’s dome for a 60 Minutes piece on the structure’s 150th anniversary and upcoming refurbishment, and all the network had to do was beg both houses of Congress, smooth things out with the police, and get an exemption from a federal ban on aircraft over Washington.
Lucky for 60 Minutes, all sides of Congress—even in this era of hopelessly fractured government—are willing to bend the rules for inoffensive fluff. CBS News got its aerial access after taking its request to the Senate Rules Committee and House Speaker John Boehner. Both offices signed off, sending 60 Minutes through the permitting process, which included the US Secret Service and US Capitol Police and the Federal Aviation Administration’s flight ban.
“I’ve heard it’s unprecedented,” says Justin Kieffer, a spokesman for the Architect of the Capitol. “I think there was bipartisan support for telling the story of the dome.”
Helicopter filming isn’t usually an impossibility, but it has been exceedingly rare in Washington since 9/11, when the FAA introduced the flight ban, restricting all aircraft without a pre-approved flight plan or official government duty from flying within a 15-mile radius of Reagan National Airport. (That’s also the main reason it’s illegal to fly a drone or remote-controlled plane in DC.)
Exemptions sometimes happen for big-budget action movies, but not for weekly news programs. Getting around the FAA, along with obtaining permits from various law enforcement agencies, can take more than a month. CBS News would not say how far in advance it requested the November 19 shoot, but it took the producers of this summer’s White House Down more than five weeks last year to get permission for a few minutes of aerial footage of Washington.
Don’t Miss Another Big Story—Get Our Weekend Newsletter
Our most popular stories of the week, sent every Saturday.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Congress Let “60 Minutes” Fly Helicopter Over Washington for Dome Story
Congress helped CBS News get around myriad restrictions for a puff piece about the US Capitol Building.
Between the permits and police, filming on Capitol Hill is difficult enough. But getting footage from above the Capitol is almost unheard of these days. Yet that’s what CBS News was able to do last Sunday, when it featured a long helicopter shot of the Capitol’s dome for a 60 Minutes piece on the structure’s 150th anniversary and upcoming refurbishment, and all the network had to do was beg both houses of Congress, smooth things out with the police, and get an exemption from a federal ban on aircraft over Washington.
Lucky for 60 Minutes, all sides of Congress—even in this era of hopelessly fractured government—are willing to bend the rules for inoffensive fluff. CBS News got its aerial access after taking its request to the Senate Rules Committee and House Speaker John Boehner. Both offices signed off, sending 60 Minutes through the permitting process, which included the US Secret Service and US Capitol Police and the Federal Aviation Administration’s flight ban.
“I’ve heard it’s unprecedented,” says Justin Kieffer, a spokesman for the Architect of the Capitol. “I think there was bipartisan support for telling the story of the dome.”
Helicopter filming isn’t usually an impossibility, but it has been exceedingly rare in Washington since 9/11, when the FAA introduced the flight ban, restricting all aircraft without a pre-approved flight plan or official government duty from flying within a 15-mile radius of Reagan National Airport. (That’s also the main reason it’s illegal to fly a drone or remote-controlled plane in DC.)
Exemptions sometimes happen for big-budget action movies, but not for weekly news programs. Getting around the FAA, along with obtaining permits from various law enforcement agencies, can take more than a month. CBS News would not say how far in advance it requested the November 19 shoot, but it took the producers of this summer’s White House Down more than five weeks last year to get permission for a few minutes of aerial footage of Washington.
Don’t Miss Another Big Story—Get Our Weekend Newsletter
Our most popular stories of the week, sent every Saturday.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Most Popular in News & Politics
Trump Hotel Employees Reveal What It Was Really Like Catering to the Right Wing Elite
Washington’s Most Influential People
The Bulwark Was Founded to Oppose Trump. Now What?
Check Out This Huge Crochet Mural of Kamala Harris at the Wharf
DC Is Replacing Its Current Vaccine Sign-Up System
Washingtonian Magazine
March 2021: The Influencers
View IssueSubscribe
Get Us on Social
Get Us on Social
Related
Marty Baron’s Last Day at the Washington Post Is This Sunday
“Hot Jazz Saturday Night” Is Back—and Rob Bamberger’s Beard Is Gone
This Research Explains Why You Know So Much About Marjorie Taylor Greene
The Baltimore Sun Avoids Being Owned by a Newspaper-Gobbling Hedge Fund
More from News & Politics
Glenstone Will Host Its First Touring Exhibit When It Reopens This Spring
Check Out This Huge Crochet Mural of Kamala Harris at the Wharf
DC Is Replacing Its Current Vaccine Sign-Up System
Howard Is Renaming Its Law Library After Alumnus and Civil Rights Figure Vernon Jordan
There’s a New Mural of Amanda Gorman in Dupont Circle
The Week Covid Changed Washington
A New DC Program Lets Housebound Seniors Sign Up for Zoom Sessions With Rescue Animals
Axios Political Reporter Alexi McCammond Is Teen Vogue’s New Editor