Plane crash DCA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I just heard the pilot of the helicopter was a woman. Trump, Hegseth and MAGA are getting ready to ramp up their “I Told You So” tour.

You heard from Fox or maybe one of the MAGA nuts?

It is clearly a male voice from the radio.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r90Xw3tQC0I

Man, the male helo pilot (or copilot) said at both ATC warnings that yes, they have visual separation and then went and crashed into the underside of the jet.

W T F.

They could have been watch another plane. It is in the video. Though he could have stopped. Helicopter can hover.

No. Look at the radar. If the helicopter pilot was looking at another plane, he was staring out the side window of the helicopter.

The plane he crashed into is directly in front of him. Even accounting for the fact the plane is descending in altitude and the dark, there is no plausible way the helicopter pilot though they were talking about one of the other planes. There was only one other plane in the vicinity and it's to the side and behind the helicopter.

Also the ATC identifies the aircraft by call sign, which presumably should have shown up on helicopter radar as well.

Dude, they have navigational tools and fly off those most of all! They know an approaching aircraft’s altitude, speed, angle.

If pilot was “looking out since wrong side window” at a different jet farther away, that’s malpractice, malfeasance, negligence and pure idiocy.

They look at both the navs and outside visuals.

Guess which one is most accurate? To the point that in a white out or black out situation they only use it? The Navs!

Something dumb happened here.

And if it’s a cascade of substandard DEI admittances and promotions, so be it.

We need to know.

[Anonymous]

There is no way Trump hadn't been told one of the pilots was a black woman before he ranted about DEI. What a disgusting pig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe laying off a quarter of the government isn't a bright idea..

"Staffing was ‘not normal’ at airport tower, according to a preliminary F.A.A. report.
Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report about the collision that was reviewed by The New York Times.

The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways. Those jobs typically are assigned to two controllers, rather than one.

This increases the workload for the air traffic controller and can complicate the job. One reason is that the controllers can use different radio frequencies to communicate with pilots flying planes and pilots flying helicopters. While the controller is communicating with pilots of the helicopter and the jet, the two sets of pilots may not be able to hear each other.

Like most of the country’s air traffic control facilities, the tower at Reagan airport has been understaffed for years. The tower there was nearly a third below targeted staff levels, with 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023, according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan, an annual report to Congress that contains target and actual staffing levels. The targets set by the F.A.A. and the controllers’ union call for 30.

The shortage — caused by years of employee turnover and tight budgets, among other factors — has forced many controllers to work up to six days a week and 10 hours a day.

The F.A.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

Yes, and it didn't help that Trump had left the FAA head vacant after Elon Musk forced the last head out on January 20 so he could make a more favorable environment for SpaceX. People hate big government until they need government to provide essential services. DOGE that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYT reporting two helicopter pilots: one male, one female.

Helo pilot was a black woman. This will get interesting.

I bet if you look at the vast majority of aviation accidents you will find that men were responsible, lol.

By "interesting", I assume you enjoy reading stories about mistakes made by "others" and firestorms of slander. That reflects poorly on you.

The military pilot communicating with ATC was male.

[Anonymous]

There is no way they aren't trying to hide the details of the "VIP" portion of the flight. It will turn out to have been Ivanka, Stephen Miller, or someone's kid getting a free ride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just heard the pilot of the helicopter was a woman. Trump, Hegseth and MAGA are getting ready to ramp up their “I Told You So” tour.

You heard from Fox or maybe one of the MAGA nuts?

It is clearly a male voice from the radio.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r90Xw3tQC0I

Man, the male helo pilot (or copilot) said at both ATC warnings that yes, they have visual separation and then went and crashed into the underside of the jet.

W T F.

They could have been watch another plane. It is in the video. Though he could have stopped. Helicopter can hover.

Unless this was a suicide mission.

This is what I’ve been wondering.

This crossed my mind too

Suicide missions don’t take out loaded jets and colleagues. That’s something else, more egotistical and evil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way Trump hadn't been told one of the pilots was a black woman before he ranted about DEI. What a disgusting pig.

I think he would have ranted about DEI anyways since he has a gullible audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:They keep sticking to the plan to reopen DCA at 11 but with so much recovery still to do will they really?

The recovery is in the water, not on the runways.

Still. Horrifying.

Absolutely! No one wants to see the wreckage beneath them as they land or fly out.

Did they close for the same amount of time for Air Florida?

I was 12. There was a snowstorm that hit that day. The city was pretty much shutdown. We got stuck at school. Parents stuck coming home from work. None of the school buses could get through we had dinner from the school cafeteria in the pod watching the wheeled in TV. I remember kids crying. One had a parent on the 14th street bridge where plane impacted. I still have images of that rescue operation and think of it every day when I cross that bridge.

Worse than that. It was also the day when Metrorail had its first fatal accident. The airport, the bridge, the metro system. A truly terrible day.

I've told this story before here, but my aunt had a seat on the Air Florida flight, but missed it because of the snow-related traffic. Then, on September 11th, 2001, she had a seat on United 93 but missed it because her son woke up with a 101 degree fever.

Holy moly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:If the helo was en route from Langley back to Ft. Belvoir, why did they follow the river at all? It's not remotely the most direct path, which would be over land.

Rivers are quieter but clearly they need a better plan for avoiding active DCA jet traffic.

I'm the PP you quoted. I saw a clip on youtube of an "expert" saying that military helicopters fly designated "lanes" or routes and the east edge of the potomac is one common route. However he also said if they helicopter was at 200 ft like it should have been, he would have missed the plane entirely as plans are not that low until they are much closer to the runway.

The projected flight of the helicopter would have taken it over the main runway at national. So the helicopter seems to be above 200 foot restriction and crossing the river from east to west(not the normal flight path)

That’s a mystery to me.

Wtf was the expected route of the black hawk?

Was it really going to cut across the entire river and DCA airport? Or did it just wander into the middle of the river at too high an altitude?

What was it supposed to be doing?!?

Apparently according to experts being interviewed on tv, the eastern edge of the Potomac river IS the designated route for helicopters and yes they would need to cross over at a designated point and with awareness of ATC. However as previously stated the Helo was too high. Required altitude is 200 ft and they were 400 ft.

Sorry, who said they need to cross over and to cross over at the DCA airline runway juncture?

They’re going 10 miles due south to fort belvoir and following the river the whole time. Less noisy.

An retired black hawk pilot on the news. The issue was not that the pilot crossed in the wrong location. It was that he/she crossed at the wrong time and did not cross behind the plane as directed and did not maintain visual separation as directed.

And as to the PP who asked why the Helo was on that side of the river at all, the same news "expert" said that the designated helo lane in that area is down the east edge of the river. So that is why they were on that side.

The path as shown on TV of the helicopter show it crossing the river from east to west and continuing across the main runways at national. This is not a normal flight path. Also the helicopter reported to be above 200 feet. This is not normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just heard the pilot of the helicopter was a woman. Trump, Hegseth and MAGA are getting ready to ramp up their “I Told You So” tour.

You heard from Fox or maybe one of the MAGA nuts?

It is clearly a male voice from the radio.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r90Xw3tQC0I

Man, the male helo pilot (or copilot) said at both ATC warnings that yes, they have visual separation and then went and crashed into the underside of the jet.

W T F.

They could have been watch another plane. It is in the video. Though he could have stopped. Helicopter can hover.

No. Look at the radar. If the helicopter pilot was looking at another plane, he was staring out the side window of the helicopter.

The plane he crashed into is directly in front of him. Even accounting for the fact the plane is descending in altitude and the dark, there is no plausible way the helicopter pilot though they were talking about one of the other planes. There was only one other plane in the vicinity and it's to the side and behind the helicopter.

Also the ATC identifies the aircraft by call sign, which presumably should have shown up on helicopter radar as well.

Dude, they have navigational tools and fly off those most of all! They know an approaching aircraft’s altitude, speed, angle.

If pilot was “looking out since wrong side window” at a different jet farther away, that’s malpractice, malfeasance, negligence and pure idiocy.

They look at both the navs and outside visuals.

Guess which one is most accurate? To the point that in a white out or black out situation they only use it? The Navs!

Something dumb happened here.

And if it’s a cascade of substandard DEI admittances and promotions, so be it.

We need to know.

I'll skip to the answer. It's not. Try to exercise some independent judgment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/29/us/plane-crash-washington-dc?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare#staffing-was-not-normal-at-airport-tower-according-to-a-preliminary-faa-report

Staffing was short last night at DCA

Honestly, it's going to be hard to trust anything coming out the administration from this point on. But, we'll see if other people start making noise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They keep sticking to the plan to reopen DCA at 11 but with so much recovery still to do will they really?

The recovery is in the water, not on the runways.

Still. Horrifying.

Absolutely! No one wants to see the wreckage beneath them as they land or fly out.

Did they close for the same amount of time for Air Florida?

I was 12. There was a snowstorm that hit that day. The city was pretty much shutdown. We got stuck at school. Parents stuck coming home from work. None of the school buses could get through we had dinner from the school cafeteria in the pod watching the wheeled in TV. I remember kids crying. One had a parent on the 14th street bridge where plane impacted. I still have images of that rescue operation and think of it every day when I cross that bridge.

Worse than that. It was also the day when Metrorail had its first fatal accident. The airport, the bridge, the metro system. A truly terrible day.

Will never forget some of the images from that day.

Same here. We used to take the 14th street bridge to commute home. We didn’t that day because everyone was snowed in. Every time I take that bridge I remember that horrible day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way they aren't trying to hide the details of the "VIP" portion of the flight. It will turn out to have been Ivanka, Stephen Miller, or someone's kid getting a free ride.

We may never know who it was. But I 100% agree others were on that Black Hawk before it departed Langley. Wonder how they feel right about now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way they aren't trying to hide the details of the "VIP" portion of the flight. It will turn out to have been Ivanka, Stephen Miller, or someone's kid getting a free ride.

Yep name names

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYT reporting two helicopter pilots: one male, one female.

And zero nav instrument flying skills or line of sight skills.

+1000