Thomas A. Dixon, Jr. Aircraft Observation Area — Attraction in Ferndale

I loved parking here to utilize the trail, however the last time I did, I left because some ignorant people would not leash their dogs. After I parked I asked the two men to leash their dogs. They refused, even though it is the law. One dog approached me and neither men attempted to stop the dog. I repeatedly asked, and had to call the Police. I understand that some people like dogs, however the law has answered the question on whether or not you can have them in a public area without a leash. They are animals, not humans. Regardless of how delusional you may feel about your dog being a member of your family; dogs are animals, animals are animals. Unpredictable. My child was killed by a dog, a dog owned by irresponsible owners. I should not have to share this information nor call the police for people to be respectful and follow the law. It was only when the police arrived, they decided to leash their dogs. One of the two stupid men decided to apologize after the cop arrived. A coward. He had over 20 minutes while I was fearful in my car to leash his dog, and apologize. He didn't. He is a coward, and was following his friend's bad behavior. My hope is that this place will be once again a great place for me to enjoy the trail, but if people like this continue to act like this, and have disregard for fellow humans, it will not. ...

This park is a very nice place to watch planes take off (primarily Southwest Airlines planes). There is a playground with monkey bars, climbing structures, and multiple slides mostly for kids age 5 and up. There is a much smaller section of the playground that could work for younger than 5. Please note that there are no swings. There are also trails to walk, jog, or bike. The real drawbacks of the place is first the parking lot is small (maybe fits less than 30 cars) and lots of people leave their cars there for a while, so they can walk or bike the trails. This means during busy times, you might have to wait a while for a space to open. So, check google live to see how busy it is. Second, probably due to the proximity to the airport (right across the street), the air isn't the freshest. So, if your family has any breathing issues, you might want to choose a park with less smog. Third, in the time of COVID-19, very few people wore masks. Very few grown-ups wore masks and nearly no children wore masks. And the vast majority of children there were older than 2yo. I think this would be a much safer place once...

I have been here multiple times and it's truly one of the best plane-spotting locations on the East coast. The positioning of the park relative to the runway allows you those awesome 3/4 angle shots. In many places where I have plane-spotted before, others doing the same tend to be unfriendly. It's not the case here. A bunch of folks showed up to watch Southwest Airlines "Maryland One" land at BWI, and they could not have been nicer. We all chatted it up amiably, even shared pictures. It's a Southwest hub so you will see a lot of their birds, but stay there for more than a half hour or so and you will see Delta, Frontier, Spirit, American, United, jetBlue... ...And sometimes even a wildcard or two, like the Egyptian Air Force C-130 we saw... It pays to come and give it a good two hours to see what comes in. Contrary to what other plane-spotters write about BWI, it's not...