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

Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal” during the deadly late-night crash between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people, a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report said, as bodies of the victims were being recovered Thursday from the icy Potomac.

The internal report reviewed by The New York Times said the controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity on Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways — jobs typically assigned to two different controllers. President Trump promised on Thursday that a thorough investigation would be conducted, while also engaging in political attacks on his predecessors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to Reuters, it was a fairly experienced crew on the helocopter but they were at the wrong altitude.

They were wearing night vision goggles and doing a training flight.

Right before the crash they confirmed they had the jet in sight - they must have been looking at the wrong plane? or else the night goggles impaired their peripheral vision and they couldn't see all the bright lights on the jet they were flying directly into?

were the pilots active duty, full time pilots?

Or were they reservists flying a few times a year?

Pull their career flight logs and let the public know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did I miss the part where it became normal to focus on the race and sex of the pilot when admitting people or hiring them?

yeah, guess you did miss it.

Thought I posted this NY Times article earlier but maybe it was deleted. Where have you been?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/23/business/pilots-diversity.html

An article about more POC being interested in becoming pilots automatically means DEI/unqualified to you?

Anonymous wrote:

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

Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal” during the deadly late-night crash between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people, a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report said, as bodies of the victims were being recovered Thursday from the icy Potomac.

The internal report reviewed by The New York Times said the controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity on Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways — jobs typically assigned to two different controllers. President Trump promised on Thursday that a thorough investigation would be conducted, while also engaging in political attacks on his predecessors.

This was not an ATC nor staffing issue.

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

Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal” during the deadly late-night crash between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people, a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report said, as bodies of the victims were being recovered Thursday from the icy Potomac.

The internal report reviewed by The New York Times said the controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity on Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways — jobs typically assigned to two different controllers. President Trump promised on Thursday that a thorough investigation would be conducted, while also engaging in political attacks on his predecessors.

Anonymous wrote:Do military helicopters have blackboxes? Will they be able to hear the equivalent of a cockpit recording?

Anonymous wrote:Do military helicopters have blackboxes? Will they be able to hear the equivalent of a cockpit recording?

Anonymous wrote:The identities of the helicopter pilots have not been released.

FYI I hear there is a really special place in hell for people who spread false claims about the identities of deceased people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else struck by the almost total lack of helicopters in the skies today?

I hear them plenty in NE. It's unnerving on a normal day and even worse today.

Interesting. The maps show only 2 choppers over the entire city and one is at crash site.

Anonymous wrote:I can't link to it right now because I'm on my phone, but Washington Post has a visual that is an aerial shot if the area and shows the flight path of both aircraft.

The plane approaches from the South and banks gently west toward the airport, what seems like a very typical approach for anyone who has flown into National.

The helicopter path is bizarre. Travels SE past Hain's Point, the turns SW toward Alexandria, then adjusts to a course that is due South. Then just before the collision, turns fairly hard SW and straight into path of the plane, which according to ATC was on a steady, normal descent.

Why does the helicopter turn hard toward National right before collision? Why do they turn toward the middle of the river at all? Even if flying higher than normal, if they had just maintained that due South course, they would have missed the plane (still too close for comfort and would require review, but without the tragic deaths of nearly 70 people).

I don't get it.

Anonymous wrote:One Blackhawk pilot identified:

"A Mississippi man is among the victims killed in a Wednesday evening crash involving a commercial airliner and a Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C.

Multiple news outlets, including the Macon Beacon, are reporting the death of Andrew Eaves, a Black Hawk pilot. The Beacon said Eaves is a Noxubee County native.

Eaves' wife, Carrie Eaves, shared the news in a post on Facebook.

"We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today," she wrote."