Why does military use helicopters around DMV?

[Anonymous]

I've always been bothered by the frequency of military flights around the DMV. I understand and support use for transport of president / VP, but who else in gov't is high enough risk / high enough time value to merit flying around in a helicopter.

The military seems to think b/c they have helicopters they might as well use them. But it causes noise, carbon emissions, is expensive, and yesterday, a tragic accident.

Anyone know the protocol for when military can/can't use helicopters to transport people around. (Or whether yesterday's flight was in fact say a patrol / safety mission, rather than saving a general fifteen minutes in the car).

[Anonymous]

Agree. They fly frequently over Capitol Hill very low, for no apparent reason. I don’t think there is any reason for any helicopter to do that except for bona fide security or transportation, and MPD for law enforcement.

[Anonymous]

There are military bases in the area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are military bases in the area

Sure but that doesn’t mean they need to be constantly flying into congested air space and over dense residential areas.

[Anonymous]

There are some legitimate missions, but there’s also a whole lot of joyriding going on.

[Anonymous]

As someone who lives in the "restricted air space" I've never understood how there are always 6-8 helicopters flying around all day and all night. I have said for years that one will crash on someones apartment, house, highway, where ever, just given the sheet volume of helicopters and statistics. So I'm very sad that that day was yesterday. I knew this was going to happen and frankly it pisses me off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some legitimate missions, but there’s also a whole lot of joyriding going on.

Well I hope that stops going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some legitimate missions, but there’s also a whole lot of joyriding going on.

There is a ton of joyriding going on. This is terrible for noise pollution, the environment and it's making additional potential problems with the airport. Commercial pilots are already weary of lading at National because they often have to sharply bank to land AND the air strip is so close to the potomac they don't need any extra unnecessary variables for safely landing. This really needs to be addressed.

[Anonymous]

OMG what is wrong with you people.

This was an accident caused by Trump and his idiot sycophants who removed the guardrails.

Neither pilot wanted this to happen. It was an accident tragic and most likely could have been prevented or maybe not.

However our military needs to train.

You can not have close in airports and not have this happen.

[Anonymous]

Too many political VIPs see the helicopter ride as a perk of doing the job. The pilots need flight hours. The military likes to use their toy; more use means more justification for higher budgets.

Thus, you have a bunch of flights at all hours of the day because VIPs don't want to sit in a car ride to the Pentagon or Langley. But the airspace around DCA is the most congested in the country and the odds of a catastrophic accident go up the more aircraft you put in the air.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Anonymous]

a whole lot of joyriding going on.

This. Probably reason #1 for the recent casualty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG what is wrong with you people.

This was an accident caused by Trump and his idiot sycophants who removed the guardrails.

Neither pilot wanted this to happen. It was an accident tragic and most likely could have been prevented or maybe not.

However our military needs to train.

You can not have close in airports and not have this happen.

What guardrails were removed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG what is wrong with you people.

This was an accident caused by Trump and his idiot sycophants who removed the guardrails.

Neither pilot wanted this to happen. It was an accident tragic and most likely could have been prevented or maybe not.

However our military needs to train.

You can not have close in airports and not have this happen.

What? Yes, you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too many political VIPs see the helicopter ride as a perk of doing the job. The pilots need flight hours. The military likes to use their toy; more use means more justification for higher budgets.

Thus, you have a bunch of flights at all hours of the day because VIPs don't want to sit in a car ride to the Pentagon or Langley. But the airspace around DCA is the most congested in the country and the odds of a catastrophic accident go up the more aircraft you put in the air.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It was bipartisan legislation voted in by congress that put even more flights in the air at DCA, to the minority objection of local VA and MD government leaders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG what is wrong with you people.

This was an accident caused by Trump and his idiot sycophants who removed the guardrails.

Neither pilot wanted this to happen. It was an accident tragic and most likely could have been prevented or maybe not.

However our military needs to train.

You can not have close in airports and not have this happen.

What guardrails were removed?

I could see someone arguing that the ATC staff were distracted, or the military personnel were distracted due to the chaos T has created in the government they are employed by, but I'm not seeing the "guardrails were removed" argument at this time.