Posted on 01/30/2025 8:40:00 PM PST by TBP
I was a Blackhawk helicopter crew chief in the Army.
I was even a Flight Instructor. This means that I trained Crew Chiefs and ensured that they completed all training annually to maintain their flight ratings.
One massive responsibility we had was to be the eyes for the pilots. We handled airspace obstacle avoidance and communicated potential risks to the pilots.
Quite often we would train as a flight of 2 or 3 birds flying in formation.
It was my job to have my head out the window and tell the pilots that the aircraft behind us was "staggered right at 3 discs". (We measured close distances in terms of the diameter of our rotor discs).
I can tell you after doing this for hundreds of hours, even when you know EXACTLY where a Blackhawk is, and you have night vision goggles on, it is EXTREMELY hard to SEE the aircraft.
These birds are designed to be hard to see at night.
The red and green lights on the side get lost in the lights of the city below. The only "lights" on top of the aircraft are called "slime lights" because they are a very very very dim green.
Incredibly difficult to see.
If you are above the helicopter, even if it has it flood light or spot light (2 different lights) on, underneath it, it is still hard to see the bird because all of that illumination is below the airframe.
Another thing people should know is just how busy things can get on the aircraft.
Pilots are talking to each other about what they are observing on the instrument panels. This means neither are looking outside the aircraft.
The crew chief might be conducting a fuel check, where we would also be looking up into the cockpit at the fuel gages and the clock.
This CAN lead to moments where all 3 people on the aircraft are all looking inside the aircraft.
It's not supposed to happen that way. We are supposed to announce when we are "coming inside" or are "back outside" the aircraft. But that doesn't always happen.
Also, in cities like DC, the radio traffic is constant and can make it hard to filter out what is important for you to listen to.
Checking instruments, doing math, reading checklists, and listening to multiple radios all at the same time is HARD. Mistakes happen.
Anyone out there telling you that they find the aircraft collision to be suspect, have NEVER been in a flight crew and they have ZERO idea what they are talking about.
Ignore them all. Better yet, mock the hell out of them.
999 times out of 1000 aircraft incidents always come down to a series of pilot and crew errors.
Humans are involved. They aren't perfect.
Tonight, my heart and mind is with the families of those involved in this tragic event.
I won't join the chorus of idiots making speculations.
Rampant here
Thank-you.
I resent that. I mean, I want to join the chorus, but I've been too busy.
At the end of the day, 67 people are dead because Congress wanted to keep the airport open because it’s close to the Capitol so they could jet out of town at the end of their 3 day work week without fighting traffic.
makes sense! I think to hold back our judgement is the right thing to do. Especially right now...and I say that as one who often “ jumps on the bandwagon” far too fast!
“Anyone out there telling you that they find the aircraft collision to be suspect, have NEVER been in a flight crew and they have ZERO idea what they are talking about.”
This...
And I don't care about the "problems" with the crew. This was a mission where failure was not an option. They failed bigly. These guys remind me of the Jimmy Carter's clown copters in the Iranian desert.
Would it be fair to say that the instructor was taking care of all the inside details leaving the trainee pilot to concentrate on flying out safely in a congested area and how much time would there have been for when the collision avoidance alarm went off for the instructor to react. it seems the controllers never mentioned. they were a collision course.
McEathrons’ rant ends with 999 out 1000 incidents is crew error.
Blah-blah-blah! Somebody F...ed-up and 67 people are dead!
Somebody neglected the details and habits and 67 people are dead!
Somebody neglected the fundamentals and 67 people are dead!
Such things are not supposed to happen!
From what I’m hearing, the “female” pilot was not a she. It was a he. A fake “trans-she”.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the crash was deliberate given their tendency towards violence and killing.
An example:
“Manhunt underway for 3rd trans suspect in killing of Vermont Border Patrol agent David Maland, also wanted in connection with parents’ murder”
The departing aircraft was at the opposite end of the airport that the helicopter had already passed.
“...I don’t care about the ‘problems’ with the crew. This was a mission where failure was not an option. They failed bigly. These guys remind me of the Jimmy Carter’s clown copters in the Iranian desert.”
Yep. Maybe there helicopter is hard to see at night but a freaking airliner landing isn’t. I thought the military had requirements on vision for aviators. One of the two pilots should have been looking outside the cockpit at a busy airport.
“The case of the radical ‘Zizian’ vegan trans cult and the shooting death of border patrol agent”
I can understand that if the chopper was coming in from above, but the background looks pretty dark even for that.
.
After watching the collision video, I’m not ashamed to say that the thought occurred to me that the helicopter pilot was a mohammedan!
found out later it was way overloaded with fuel and trying to get enough lift to get over the mountains by circling close in. Pilots said they had to let the helicopter bounce just to get it to lift off the runway. It was a test for the mission in Iran. A few years later I got transferred to a helitack crew and did flight load calculations and rescues
(These guys remind me of the Jimmy Carter’s clown copters in the Iranian desert.)
Operation Eagle Claw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw
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