Posted on 01/31/2025 5:04:31 AM PST by Twotone
snip
We now have an answer to that question. What happened at the principal airport of the national capital was an accident that, as the new president put it in his initial reaction, should not have happened. He's entirely correct on that. A commuter jet and an army helicopter colliding above the airport is a disaster from the last century, rendered all but obsolete by the technological advances of the new millennium.
But, as we learned, not quite obsolete. There is still a critical human element - and the control tower at Reagan National is not altogether reassuring on that front:
"Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was "not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic...The controller who was handling helicopters...was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways" pic.twitter.com/Tts8z09G4Y — Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) January 30, 2025
There are usually two controllers from 10am to 9.30pm. So the Trump-Musk-Duffy massive layoffs have kicked in? Er, no. On Wednesday, shortly before the crash, the "supervisor" "allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early". As Lloyd Bridges would say, looks like I picked the wrong week for my gender-affirming surgery.
Boy, the families of those poor Russian and American skaters will have a helluva lawsuit.
Or maybe not - I know something about judges and juries in that neck of the woods.
But at the very least, from the emerging facts, this seems to be an example of another familiar reprise at this website: Nothing works anymore.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
This is even worse than we thought. A 2 min video on DEI in the FAA...
https://x.com/JohnStrandUSA/status/1885173868916052041
The Blaze did a documentary in this a few months ago (1/2 hour long) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiclZKcCr8g
There’s a shortage of about 2,000 air traffic controllers and it’s a self made shortage due to DEI hiring goals. No white guys with a perfect score are allowed. They are “flushed”. They had a weird questionnaire as a second test. The last question was how much time were you unemployed in the months leading up to the test. An answer of zero time gets you zero points. Answer of 1-2 months gets you some points.
The left is literally trying to kill people and destroy this country in as many ways as they can. Plane crashes to fires to vaccine mandates to child mutilation and abortion.
They omitted one pilot from identification
Why? [rhetorical]
Please explain to me, in detail, how another atc in the tower would have prevented this...
Don’t play into the narrative.
My wife and I say this all the time. It's amazing. I do think Trump will make a big difference, and so there is hope -- but, boy! Just trying to get through an average day is a lot more challenging than it ought to be.
Seems the FAA tried something a little different and changed their hiring rules to “stupid people need apply”
“Nothing works anymore”
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You’re right, but WHY?
I mean, what is the True Root Cause ?
Could mocking God, and denigrating His Son be a factor?
Okay. I will explain. DCA is one of the hardest facilities to staff due to its location in the D.C. metro. No one wants to travel into work with the traffic and the security measures to get into the work area. There are multiple FAA facilities in the area that controllers bid on to work to help in that area.
Hence, DCA does not have the cream of the crop. Fact. The AT supervisor will be relieved along with the facility chief in the next few weeks when the information comes out. The position that is responsible for separation is called a local controller. Having one person responsible for takeoff and landing clearances along with DOD operations on the Potomac can get hair raising quickly. There was 6 aircraft on the taxiway ready to takeoff. If planes wait to long congressmen and women are calling to complain. A great deal of pressure.
The AT supervisor trying to be a nice guy let a controller go home early rather than maintaining staffing requirements. Not good. DCA has a long history of close calls. On Wednesday night the swiss cheese holes in safety nets lined up and we lost 67 lives. There are many studies to show how critical human factors are to safety of the flying public. So in detail, the information that comes out of NTSB will probably cause an outcry of the public to cause air traffic control services to be privatized.
Nothing works anymore.
So true. From Microsoft products to phones. It’s all one big competition for my attention. I swear windows is just one big advertisement platform these days. Popups everywhere. Native popups. So annoying
No, that was not at all certain, what with the sloppy and ad hoc phraseology employed between pilot and controller.
The FAA Order 7110.65 delineates the correct verbiage to be used with "visual separation" and the exchange between the
two actors isn't even close.
Yep, that will fix it. Raytheon or Boeing will hire all the displaced burger-flippers to control air traffic.
Isn't that what is pi$$ing off people now? The FAA hiring DEI rather than merit based personnel?
The helo pilot was only cleared to 200 feet.
Crash occured at 350/400 feet.
Helo pilot refused to answer or acknowledge commands.
Landing aircraft always have the right of way.
These are the facts as known.
Please explain how 30 or even 40 more atc would have prevented this.
Failure of chain of command in the army.
ATC allowed the helo to identify potentially the wrong plane by not providing and confirming the azimuth of the landing plane when handing off manual avoidance control. Also, the helo should have been warned they were potentially 200 feet above their required altitude, again potentially due to understaffing and too little time.
I am getting sick to my stomach. Check this out about the undisclosed help pilot that has not been announced.
A transgender Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the military wrote a long letter about “Gender Dysphoria” and depression 1 day before the fatal crash!
Really? Normally 1 ATC is directing the Helios and 2nd fixed wing approach. When ATC subject 1 leaves subject 2 is over worked and made a mistake. Subject 2 just lost his job.
The person that left early was the ATC in charge of helo flights in the area. Having someone focused on and communicating with the Blackhawk pilot might have been important.
Uncle Sam will be writing some big checks when it’s all said and done
I see blame on the crews of both the helo and the ATC.
“Nothing works anymore.”
When did anything work? Sixty years ago Robert Ruark’s final article was published: “Nothing Works And Nobody Cares.”
The FAA hiring procedures obviously must be modified so that one IQ 130 flight controller can be replaced by two IQ 65 workers. That should normalize things.
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