Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused, thought the pilot has been identified as a guy from Atlanta?

Regardless, Buttigieg was appointed specifically to unwind the first Trump administration standards for ATCs.

The Biden transportation secretary publicly stated he thought the federal ATC workforce "was too white."

Where's your source for this BULLSH!TE?

They don’t need a source. Rs just make up whatever lies they want to tell.

Anonymous wrote:Is Trump going to go to FAA and the ATC and ask them what they need, what he can give them? It sounds like ATC needs a lot more people - do they need funds for hiring?

Let’s divert some $ from deporting elementary school students and hospital patients, and spend it on ATC’s!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter involved in the collision near Reagan National Airport has been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) Jo Ellis, a transgender woman. Jo Ellis has served in the Virginia Army National Guard for 15 years and transitioned while actively serving as a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot. The crash, which occurred on a clear night, is under investigation. Social media discussions suggest potential miscommunication between the helicopter pilot and air traffic control regarding visual separation from the passenger jet, though no official cause has been determined yet.

Holy sh*t.

Not sure where PP got that from, they didn't cite. Reddit? 4chan?

I'll believe that when I see it officially.

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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.

Assuming a black female pilot is automatically unqualified and a "DEI hire" goes beyond being a disgusting pig.

+1, imagine being the family if that pilot and finding out your child/sister/wife/mother died in a tragic accident and then seeing the president ranting about "DEI" being to blame

Pretty much

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm seeing that one of the helo pilots was a woman, but nothing I see says she was black.

Where is the source saying the pilot was a black woman?

Assume we have lots of nazi trolls here and take everything not cited with a grain of salt.

+1000

Anonymous wrote:I'm seeing that one of the helo pilots was a woman, but nothing I see says she was black.

Where is the source saying the pilot was a black woman?

Assume we have lots of nazi trolls here and take everything not cited with a grain of salt.

This is what happens when you gut essential government services...people die.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/29/us/plane-crash-washington-dc
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.

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Anonymous wrote:Listening to the scanner app. This is horrible. Just wait until President Musk shuts down the FAA.

Please keep the hate elsewhere.

Okay. Let’s talk instead about how unelected oligarch Musk attacked the FAA repeatedly because he didn’t like them fining SpaceX, and then demanded the head resign one year into his five year term. And so he did! On January 20. Well done, Elon. We totally don’t need government to function!

I just googled this to confirm, and it’s true, he quit 9 days earlier.

OMG I’m terrified who Trump might install. Between this and the military being at fault, it is 100% on them. Let’s see some leadership today to instill confidence that Americans are safe flying and that they’re taking this seriously.

Instead we have a frightened president who sends out messages like an 85 year old grandma on Facebook. There is no leadership.

I don’t think he’s “frightened “

Yes he is. Terrified. He looks bad. His administration looks bad. He's all about WINNING!

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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.

If it turns out she was piloting, it was the man who radioed they saw the plane. So, it can't entirely be her fault. I mean if you're headed straight for a plane, aren't the other two people on board going to start shouting? If this is going to be some DEI thing, I think we have to be honest that likely all of them are at fault, and perhaps whoever ordered them to be flying then.

This is going to turn into a DEI thing but not bc of a female pilot or any individual person. ATC is understaffed largely bc of Obama-era policy efforts to diversify all branches of gov't--and ATC historically has been the least diverse. There's been a class-action lawsuit going on since '14 I think b/c of a pretty shameful biographical pass/fail questionaire that was put into place. The DoT is going to lose this case and hopefully it gets wrapped up soon. This is a good (though not short) summary and looking at it again I just noticed that it was published exactly one year before yesterday's crash.

https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-faas-hiring-scandal-a-quick-overview

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4542755/brigida-v-united-states-department-of-transportation/?page=1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Assuming a black female pilot is automatically unqualified and a "DEI hire" goes beyond being a disgusting pig.

+1, imagine being the family if that pilot and finding out your child/sister/wife/mother died in a tragic accident and then seeing the president ranting about "DEI" being to blame

I mean, if she only got the job because she was a black woman, then yeah, DEI is to blame.

I read multiple comments on Fox News and 80% say that Trump should not have said anything other than offering condolences, this is not even sitting right with his base.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Not sure that is relevant. ATC saw both planes and communicated with them- no whether the right words were said, I don’t know, but present staff attempted to intervene.

Horrific

I wonder if the plane could have pulled up and aborted the landing approach at any point.

Terrible.

The helicopter could have.

But not the plane. Which is why ATC simply confirms that the helicopter has visual on the plane and directs it to fly behind. That is not a particularly challenging maneuver for a BH whereas trying to change the course of an airplane at 400ft, descending to a runway, would take heroic effort and may not be successful.

Something went wrong with the helicopter. Why was it flying at 400ft when 200 is standard? Why had it crossed into the middle of the river when standard flight path would keep it on the east bank at least until it had passed DCA airspace? Why do they confirm visual on the plane but maintain path? Why don't they turn East when directed to pass behind the landing plane?

Nothing ATC or the plane does here is particularly notable. Yes it's bad ATC was short-staffed and that one controller had to handle plane and helicopter traffic. But he does so. The plane is doing a standard landing, no deviations. But the helicopter is deviating from the norm in several ways. It raises questions about what was happening in the aircraft.

Wonder if we'll ever get the data from the helicopter black box. I hope so, but am not counting on it.

Blaming minorities and giving Nazi salutes, implementing EOs that take away rights from a group of people that makes up less than .9% of the population… A troubling trend.

Anonymous wrote:

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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

Couldn't the person talking not have been the one flying the helicopter? There were three soldiers on the helicopter. This makes sense with Trump's DEI statements. Hegseth said in his statement that they know the identities of the soldiers on board. And, of course, this would play perfectly into Hegseth's claims that the military has gone to shit under Biden because it's no longer the best and brightest being promoted, etc., it's all based on DEI. He also claims that, under Biden, there's not enough time for military training in the field, etc. because they all had to constantly do DEI, sexual assault, etc. training. I REALLY hope the PP is wrong that the pilot of the helicopter was a woman, but I'm afraid that may be the case.

Do you not Nazi how you are playing directly into Nazi rhetoric?

Trump filled the government with grossly unqualified insane people, and you "REALLY hope" non-WhiteMen don't exist, because any one that does exist will be blamed for anything that goes wrong?

THIS IS HOW GENOCIDES LAUNCH

Um, no I'm not. You are not very good at reading comprehension. I hope it wasn't a woman flying the helicopter because Trump and Hegseth will point to that as "evidence" that women and other DEI candidates in the military shouldn't be there. I don't agree with that, but that's how they will twist that fact to further their agenda. Do you understand now?

So any time a woman screws up something (50% of the population) or a POC screws up (40%+ of the population) it's automatically because of "DEI"?

What a logical fallacy.

Does anyone know who was piloting the F35 that stalled out last weekend in Alaska? Was it a DEI pilot?
https://apnews.com/article/f35-air-force-jet-crashes-alaska-b85f19849361ddb3882cdc551f5d0f1d

Women do not make up 50% of military helicopter pilots or anywhere even close to that. But, in any event, as a PP explained, there's a perception that the standards for flying/ATC have been lowered for women/non-white folks and that this has made flying less safe. Again, I am not saying this is true, but it's the claim of Trump/Hegseth + supporters. I'm not sure why you keep getting so angry when I've made clear I don't agree with this claim. It's not my argument, it's Hegseth's. So get mad at him.

Simple.

Pull the qualifications, experience and training from pilots 15-20 years ago and compare them to the last 0-7 years ago.

Who are we putting in the cockpit nowadays?

We have a recruiting problem. This is not about men vs women. This is about being able to recruit ANYONE without lowering standards.

We have more women than men entering now, because they are meeting the standards more often than men. Too many boys are out of shape, doing drugs, and getting arrested.

+1

The problem isn't necessarily that there are not enough qualified men and women, but the problem is that most of the qualified men and women are choosing to do something else. The ones who are choosing to apply are not necessarily meeting the standards. Option A: lower the standards. Option B: change the incentives somehow to attract more qualified candidates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused, thought the pilot has been identified as a guy from Atlanta?

Regardless, Buttigieg was appointed specifically to unwind the first Trump administration standards for ATCs.

The Biden transportation secretary publicly stated he thought the federal ATC workforce "was too white."

Where's your source for this BULLSH!TE?