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[quote=Anonymous]Washington Post (whose reporting has been a bit lacking on this crisis thus far) actually has a well-reported story today addressing a lot of what we are talking about here -- the tendency of helicopters to violate the set flight path through that corridor and fly above prescribed altitude or away from the eastern shore.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/30/dc-helicopters-potomac-river-dangers/

One thing noted in the article is that they are looking at whether the set flight paths are simply unacceptable even when helicopters stay low and to the east. One expert noted that even if the flight paths are followed exactly, you will only get a couple hundred feet of separation between a plane landing at runway 33 and a helicopter passing below. He doesn't say this, but that does not leave a lot of room for error should something go wrong -- a weather event that is strong enough to push either aircraft off course, a piloting error that brings either aircraft higher or lower, etc.

I thought it was interesting because a lot of people are focused on what potentially went wrong in this scenario. But what if everyone did everything right for the most part? What if the helicopter had the right plane in sight and was staying low and to the east but something happened that led to them flying up and west at the last minute, and the real problem is that the flight paths should never have been so close together to begin with?[/quote]

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