Posted on 01/31/2025 12:29:30 AM PST by Morgana
An air traffic control veteran with 23 years of experience has revealed the mistake operators made in the moments leading up to the deadly collision in Washington, DC.
The American Airlines jet with 64 people onboard crashed with a US Army helicopter carrying three soldiers over the icy waters of the Potomac River Wednesday night, killing everyone.
The Black Hawk helicopter apparently flew in the jet's path as it landed at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Investigators working through the wreckage in the Potomac uncovered two black box flight recorders on Thursday night as they attempt to determine what went wrong.
An experienced air traffic controller told DailyMail.com that the air traffic control (ATC) audio that emerged from the crash showed the operator's instructions to the helicopter were 'very ambiguous.'
In the nearly minute-and-a-half recording, ATC operators can be heard asking the helicopter if the commercial flight is in sight.
Through muffled audio, more commands and confirmations are made between ATC operators.
One air traffic controller said to the helicopter pilot: 'PAT 2-5, do you have the CRJ in sight?'
Seconds later, the controller spoke again, requesting: 'Pat 2-5 pass behind the CRJ.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Recordings are already posted and all the ATC comms with the helo are calm male voices
Watch this analysis. By airline pilot. Full ATC dialogue
https://youtu.be/hfgllf1L9_4?si=a5xP6u5fkQljZ8tZ
The ATC never confirmed that the helo crew were focused on the actual closest aircraft, but instead they were focused on the aircraft next in line to land
ATC error I would say
Their screens showed what the helo, flying visual rules, could not see
Have you ever been driving and had a near-miss with a car in your blind spot while focusing on the car further behind him?
ONLY ONE ATC on duty.
MINIMUM IS 2.
“all the ATC comms with the helo are calm male voices”
Right. Because the “female” is a male and would have a male voice.
It does seem that the problem is with the ATC, doing the job of two people, and who may or may not be ESL. Sounds like this could be an example of a perfect storm.
“Whole string of very costly errors.”
I don’t think it was an error to turn into the aircraft’s flight path and climb double the helicopter’s ceiling to intercept the aircraft. Seems pretty D-d intentional to me.
Reminds me of the homosexual German passenger jet pilot who flew his flight into the ground in an act of spite.
When ppl put their choice of sexual gratification above their duties and obligations it’s quite obvious they intend to impart the consequences to others.
Seems pretty clear what the remedy is.
“That’s not a lot of reaction time if the air traffic controller hasn’t done due diligence and gives clear instructions.”
According to that graphic, the helicopter pilot had ample time to see the plane and take evasive action. It looks like he T-boned the jet. Just a flick of the stick and he could have dodged it.
Maybe. As soon as the bit flashing CA showed up on the screen, ATC's very first sentence should have been "Pat 2-5, turn hard to port and descend to 200 immediately.", not ask if the helo could see the CRJ.
ATC requests HH heading and altitude.
HH reports heading and altitude.
ATC to HH: Do you see airliner at your 10 o’clock and . . . ?
ATC to HH: Hover and hold your present position.
Maybe the root cause of this is the supervisor who sent the second ATC home, leaving only one to handle the shift.
I assume that Reagan National Airport is rather busy that time of night? Whose idea was it to conduct a training exercise there rather than somewhere less busy?
In this controlled air space the ATC is in control. Not the pilots. It shouldn’t matter what the Blackhawk could see or not see. The ATC controller had the radar and the flight path projection and never should have had those aircraft going through the same airspace at the same altitude.
But, as always, the FAA will try to blame the pilots.
Agreed.
I think that drug issue was one of the main problems Hegseth had with trans in the military. There’s the hormone thing on its face, which is unthinkable for a warrior. But that comes with dealing with lifelong medical care like getting the drugs in the first place, and needing to be near healthcare facilities for maintaining the freak state.
And no, I definitely don’t want a 13-year-old flying anything. (I remember when my niece turned 13. She’s always been my favorite, but for a while I didn’t recognize her - LOL!)
My past included Air Traffic Control for the USMC. It caught my eye the controllers have been sending out a number of - we were understaffed, we were short handed, the controller was doing the job of 2 controllers, type stories for the press.
Air traffic control will take a good bit of the hit on this one. I wonder if the helicopter pilot was told simply to just stop/hover in place.
This is even worse than we thought. A 2 min video on DEI in the FAA...
https://x.com/JohnStrandUSA/status/1885173868916052041
Another reason not to accept Canada into the US.
Do we know yet why the helicopter pilot was flying above 200 feet?
If Canadians are so leftist, why does their Deep State have to steal their elections?
Just some food for thought. :-)
Info is out that just 24 hours prior to this, another DCA AA flight was forced to abort landing and do a go round when a helo crossed his path
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