I don’t understand why it’s normal procedure to fly over an active airport with a helicopter.
That seems destined to have issues
Can’t they just fly around it?
I heard those blackhawks are used for VIP transport, so they’re probably delivering people who need to be somewhere in DC close to that airport
Trump will use this event to claim a new need for privatizing ATC.
or calling them dei hires or saying they came from foreign mental institutions
He already did that.
He did worse than that. He blamed disabled people. Including people with dwafism. Apparently being very short means you can’t do your job at the FAA.
And I guarantee if you asked him, he’d say some stupid shit like, “they can’t reach the console!” Without even thinking about the fact that people with dwarfism are able to sit in chairs. He probably also thinks it’s an intellectual disability to be short, which is why he wears lifts in his shoes.
I’m am pretty sure Trump was thinking that Obama hired Gimmly, and all he does is smash the console with an axe. Happens when half the country looks at Trump and thinks, " Oh ya, this guy is stable enough to run the country"
Right after mollusk forced out the FAA chief too 🧐
Not only that, Delta Air spent $3.8 million to lobby for more slots. United, Alaska, and American Airlines objected because experts have been arguing for years that Reagan is dangerously overcrowded and had been experiencing near-misses.
Anyway, Delta got what they wanted and just last month the airport started allowing more flights.
“Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation. “Even the crew chief in the back has been in the unit for a very long time, very familiar with the area, very familiar with the routing structure.”
They’re saying that to imply that therefor they’re not at fault, but if anything routine makes you more likely to make mistakes. I’m sure the staffing problems didn’t help either. I guess we’ll see when the report comes out, if the black boxes survived.
Maybe they are at fault, but I would say firing a bunch of people at the FAA was a more likely reason.
There are conflicting reports about whether or not the staffing was normal when it happened, but it wouldn’t shock me at all if staffing was an issue just because it’s been an ongoing issue in the US in general for years. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this happened after Trump was inaugurated and not before, but given DC airspace it’s possible this was a bomb waiting to go off anyway.
The data shows the helicopter well above the maximum altitude - 350 feet instead of 200. I don’t think the staffing was the problem.
Another pair of eyes might have caught it and called out “hey fuckass, this helo is getting too close, go around”. One person managing too much means they miss things.
Someone did tell the Blackhawk to pass behind the plane prior to the collision. The helo pilots probably thought they were talking about another plane in the airspace, which is always very crowded.
Yeah, and the other pair of eyes might have noticed them not doing that.
I heard on Democracy Now that communications done to helicopters and communications to planes are typically done by separate individuals. The communicating to both aircrafts involved in the collision was one person.
In light of the information you’ve provided I think it should be said, staffing wasn’t the only problem.
So often tragedies happen for multiple small reasons that each alone would not cause an accident.
Staffing has been a problem for ATC for some time, so it definitely contributed to the Swiss cheese
That may well be one thing that’s wrong, but I’m going to guess that normally, one still wouldn’t have a regional jet flying directly over a helicopter with just 150 feet of vertical separation.
EDIT: I was waiting to see if VASAviation – a YouTube channel that puts up ATC radio recordings – would put up logs for this one. Looks like they have; three separate videos.
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Audio of MID-AIR CRASH into Potomac River | Regional Jet and Black Hawk Helicopter
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Last Radio from Army Helicopter | Mid-Air Crash with American Airlines CRJ-700
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Related: Ronald Reagan Airport CLOSED After Mid-Air Crash | All Planes Diverted
EDIT2: Might be more analysis going on on news or aviation sites, but as per the recordings, the helicopter was notified about the plane, said that they had the plane in sight and had requested and was granted clearance for visual separation with it. My understanding is that that places some level of responsibility on the pilot:
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/atc_html/chap7_section_2.html
Pilot-applied visual separation.
Maintain communication with at least one of the aircraft involved and ensure there is an ability to communicate with the other aircraft.
The pilot sees another aircraft and is instructed to maintain visual separation from the aircraft as follows:Tell the pilot about the other aircraft. Include position, direction, type, and, unless it is obvious, the other aircraft’s intention.
Obtain acknowledgment from the pilot that the other aircraft is in sight.
Instruct the pilot to maintain visual separation from that aircraft.If the pilot reports the traffic in sight and will maintain visual separation from it (the pilot must state both), the controller may “approve” the operation instead of restating the instructions.
If aircraft are on converging courses, inform the other aircraft of the traffic and that visual separation is being applied.
I don’t think that the above happened in the recording.
Advise the pilots if the targets appear likely to merge.
I don’t think that that happened (at least, not explicitly, though there were multiple transmissions to the helicopter about the plane; I don’t know if there’s specific terminology that has to be used).
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I’m confused because Snopes is saying they’re now saying staffing was in control? Wondering who got pressured to change their report.
Dude, quit reading Snopes for fact-based information, it was recently sold and the people who originally owned it are gone. Iirc it was bought by a media corporation that has bias.
Site seems to be down or getting the thing of death. Does someone have a mirror?
