No. A Black Hawk should be able to get from point A to point B without crashing into a passenger jet. These planes and their pilots are trained to navigate war zones |
I don't think the identity of the VIP matters. I think the identity of the pilot could matter or might not -- I have no idea. The investigators will know who the pilot is and can look into anything relevant, and I hope that info comes out if necessary (like if it's revealed the person had other incidents while flying, that would be relevant). I get why they are being cautious about revealing her name because the president politicized it. I do think it's relevant whether the helicopter was transporting a VIP prior to flying back to base. Largely because there is an inconsistency in what Hegseth has told the public and what appears to be the case. If this leg of the flight originated at Langley, that's a weird place for a training flight to start. The call sign PAT is weird for a training flight and indicates that it was a VIP flight. I think it's odd they would go to great lengths to tell the public this was a training flight with no VIPs if it turned out they'd just dropped off a VIP. If they are covering something up, that concerns me. It indicates that the VIP drop off (which is likely based on context) *is* relevant in some way, or may have been problematic (if the VIP was not a US official, for instance, but a family member or friend who probably shouldn't be using Army resources for that) on it's own. |
Sort of. A huge part of the narrative here is the amount of air traffic around National and how it has been steadily ramping up, and increasing the likelihood of a crash, for years. If it turns out this helicopter trip was completely unnecessary, that is an important part of the story because if we want to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future, it's likely that we need to reduce the number of helicopters in that air space. If transport of VIPs is a major reason for the amount of traffic, then that needs to be addressed. There are other ways of moving VIPs around safely and still efficiently (and likely much more cheaply). Also not all Army pilots are trained to "navigate war zones." Some spend their entire careers doing peacetime transport in the US or foreign bases with no danger of engagement. And even those who are trained for war zones -- they can't use the same training when navigating air space near a busy commercial airport in the US. In a war zone there is an expectation that everyone in the area is at risk of injury or death. If a BH collides with an enemy aircraft in a war zone, it's still a tragedy, but in a different way than a collision with a commercial jet full of civilians in the US. |
OK, but if it’s being abused by politicians - on either side of the political divide - then we should know that too. These a-holes can’t sit in a few extra hours of traffic per year? Tell that to the families of the 67. |
Hegseth is an unqualified liar (and yes the double entendre is intended) |
The timing of all this is sus. A week after that fool takes office? |
Who was at Langley Wed eve? Taxpayers $. Each has a RIGHT to know details. |
How much has Elon Musk said about this? Let’s be honest - he’s the one actually running the government at the moment. And if he’s unusually quiet about this incident (I have no idea as I’m not on his site) that would be noteworthy, since he seemingly can’t stop himself from weighing in on everything else. |
Sounds like the problem of crowded air space and near misses, especially involving helicopter traffic, has been a growing problem for years though. I am no fan of Trump (I loathe him) but I think the timing has to do with other factors and is likely not related to Trump taking office. I do think Trump will mishandle the investigation, because he's an incompetent moron, and that the whole thing would be more responsibly handled by pretty much any other administration (Democrat or Republican -- the issue is Trump's total lack of accountability or ethics). |
Just because the BH typically transports people doesn’t necessarily mean it did that night. The BH did separately have to do its training runs.
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At this point I do think they are making it worse. I also think there’s a rising chance there isn’t even a third pilot, but that’s another issue. If there is, they should ID the person and let the MAGA beasts do their thing. The sooner they release it, the sooner those trolls will move on to their next outrage. |
Sigh. The call letters. Just google it. |
Well now the NTSB has announced it will ONLY be communicating to the press via the app formerly known as Twitter. This is graft, this is corruption. Why the hell is a government bureau only being allowed to communicate through a social media channel owned by Elon. This seems like a crime if I ever saw one. |
+1 |