Posted on 02/06/2025 5:50:25 PM PST by xxqqzz
Vital tracking technology inside an Army Black Hawk helicopter was turned off for 'no compelling reason' when it collided with a passenger plane over Washington DC last week.
The Black Hawk was performing a routine training mission in an effort to renew 28-year-old Captain Rebecca M. Lobach's annual certification when it crashed into American Airlines Flight 5342 as it was making its final descent at Reagan National Airport just before 9pm on January 29.
When the chopper went down, the Black Hawk's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast was disabled - a system which shares an aircraft's position, altitude and speed, Sen. Ted Cruz told the New York Times on Thursday.
The technology also includes a display that shows pilots the location of other aircrafts both in the sky or on a runway, and allows air traffic controllers to not just rely on radar tracking - which could have a delay of a few seconds, according to USA Today.
Military helicopters can turn off the ADS-B during 'continuity of government' missions so that nobody can track where government officials are being flown.
But Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said that was not the case at the time of the deadly crash.
'In this instance, this was a training mission, so there was no compelling national security reason for ADS-B to be turned off,' he told the Times following a closed-door briefing on the investigation into the crash with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
He noted that the helicopter was equipped with a transponder to broadcast its location, but said the ADS-B is far superior technology.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“no compelling reason”
Who was in the left seat?
They turned off the transponder that broadcasts a signal that identifies the aircraft and allows it to show up on the air traffic controllers’ display system?
That means it was invisible to air traffic controllers at one of the world’s busiest airports.
Unbelievable.
“Practicing”
…Any particular officials, current or past, that haven’t been heard from since?
I’m sure everyone is accounted for.
But seriously. Shouldn’t the trainee announce, “Turning off [tracking system] in the event of a continuity-of-government situation. [Flips switch off.] Turning [tracking system] back on for safety during training/evaluation. [Flips switch back on.]…?”
“That means it was invisible to air traffic controllers at one of the world’s busiest airports.”
They were transponding SSR.
The tower was tracking them via SSR.
They were “visible”.
Thanks.
Not invisible but less timely and less data available. It sounds like the transponder was on that IDs the aircraft on radar but altitude and directional information has to come from the radar screen rather than being fed in from the aircraft.
Should not have been turned off.
They’ve done that in Dulles Class B airspace. I’ve heard them go over my house and then I go to ADSB Exchange and there’s nothing. They should be Court Martialed for doing that shit in training around civilian aircraft.
One would think that should be the practice.
“Who was in the left seat?”
The one who could most easily see the near oncoming ~400 ft altitude plane when the chopper was supposed to be at 200’?
Part of the training was to turn it off because that’s the protocol when flying a real mission.
The training rules contributed to a disaster.
Just because the army says it was a training mission, there is no compelling reason to think they are telling the truth.
“They turned off something so the air traffic controllers could tell were they were, because that is what they would do on the top secret mission they were practicing”
GEEZ ...
The tower had them on radar.
The helicopter was transponding SSR.
They were being tracked.
They were communicating via radio.
Thanks.
So when does this get defined as a “terrorist attack?”
Thanks.
>>They turned off something so the air traffic controllers could tell were they were, because that is what they would do on the top secret mission they were practicing.
Yes, and I get that our military personnel need to train in conditions that are as realistic as possible. But at the very least there should be a way to disable that particular feature on blackhawks used for training in busy traffic areas even if the disabling is “invisible” to the trainee (i.e. the trainee would be able to flip the “off” switch but the wiring would prevent the system from actually being turned off).
It’s not just about the tower. ADS-B data are picked up by other aircraft on 1090Mhz so everyone in the area sees where everyone else is. Except for a national emergency, that should never be turned off in Bravo airspace.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.