Plane crash in DC plane and chopper in Potomac River (Sadly there were NO survivors)

Dude. It says right in the tweet: "I am Leah" going by Bossy Leah AND is blue checkmarked. Information is money.

 

Didn't DeSantis sign a law that protects the names of "bad cops" caught on video doing "bad things" from being released? And I'm supposed to care that the name of a military pilot who may or may not have been flying that helicopter is held at the family's request?

 

Race should not be a factor in anything. We should treat people equally. Right?!

 

Trump decides that air traffic controllers are exempt from early retirement, only days after trying to get government employees like them to quit by offering retirement packages. One could almost believe that he was winging this presidency thing, and has no clue about how to govern.

After offering buyouts to air traffic controllers, Trump administration says they’re exempt from ‘early retirement’ following deadly plane crashes

 

Allowed variations in altitude readouts is the main reason I say the helo transition procedures I've read were unsafe. Procedurally, this was an accident waiting to happen. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is any aircraft's transponder can be off by under 300' and still considered to be useable for separation purposes. An over 300' discrepancy and ATC would have the pilot reset their equipment in flight or stop transmitting the altitude reporting portion of their equipment. The airliner was using ADS-B and the Blackhawk was most likely using Mode C/3A. Airliner/ADS-B reports in increments of 25' and the Blackhawk if I remember correctly in 100' increments. The data block on the controller's screen would readout in 100' increments, rounded up/down to nearest 100'. Radar playback recordings and the black boxes of each aircraft will show if proper altimeter settings (local barometric pressures) were entered by each aircrew, this affects proper readout for ATC. I'm guessing impact was around 325', maybe 350' and not really at 400'. Heck, could have been as low as 275' seconds before impact. Not that it really matters because the military crew busted their defined ceiling. Blue-Sky had no restriction other than the VASI (lighting system) was operational. I'm curious to know if they had the proper inputs entered.

Standard procedures would normally put 500' separation between aircraft on established routes when one of them are VFR (visually flying). Even at 500' if one's equipment is off generally your safe and won't scrape paint. The problem in this mid-air is the fact Sky-blue was cleared for a visual approach, he is no longer flying via instruments and can descend nearly as low as he liked to make the approach. The controller should have known minutes ahead of time these two aircraft would be too close for comfort. Instead the tower team too enthusiastically allowed the helicopter to provide his own separation. Stupid considering how many close calls DCA Tower was experiencing with these routes.

I've watched other radar/communications playbacks by VASAviation on YouTube this weekend, specifically relating to military helicopter traffic in DCA's airspace and it's clear military helicopter traffic is a problem. On one occasion, one PAT helicopter had three Collision Alerts with three separate airliners while transitioning DCA Tower's airspace. That controller didn't take positive measures either. On other playbacks, the controller was on point, not passive in his/her responsibilities and ensured paint didn't scrape. Lastly, I understand there were many complaints by ATC to management to stop or amend procedures, but obviously whatever methods taken weren't enough.

 

No, not 100% pilot error per se. There are two methods used by ATC to issue traffic to help aircraft visually get each other in sight. Either is professionally ok, but traffic issued in the O'clock position is much more precise and helps mitigate misidentification in dense traffic areas. What you don't hear after the controller issuing traffic to the helicopter pilot is the controller then issuing traffic to Sky Blue about the helicopter. If issuing a traffic advisory is important enough to one aircraft, it is as important to reciprocate that advisory to the other.

I was an examiner for over a decade. If I as the CTO examiner (Certificate of Tower Operations & evaluating this controller in position during live traffic) was evaluating this controller for his certification or for other reasons, I would have failed him because it meant meant me keying the radio and issuing a traffic call to Sky Blue and also placing a restriction on the black hawk helicopter to ensure separation, because at 30 seconds apart (minimum) it became clear the black hawk was confused as to who he/she needed to maintain visual separation from.

I most certainly would have prompted / asked the controller at about four miles apart, "Hey man, you sure you ok with Pat southbound and Sky Blue circling to 33, remember Sky Blue has no specific altitude to maintain and will descend damn near through Route 1's ceiling." If no action was taken within a couple seconds or if the controller tried answering me instead of keying the radio, I would have taken action to alleviate the conflict...terminated the evaluation and asked for position relief to debrief the controller and had a frank exchange with the desk supervisor as well.

As to those who keep saying Pat was VFR, had the airliner in sight and requested visual...you are an air traffic controller. Controller being the key word, not advisor. Pilot's make mistakes, but you are obligated the following as a controller: The primary purpose of the ATC system is to prevent a collision involving aircraft operating in the system. Your duty priority is to give first priority to separating aircraft and issuing safety alerts as required. When a CA alert is displayed, evaluate the reason for the alert without delay and take appropriate action. Separately, the 200' restriction on the helo route is a pilot required altitude, when you as a controller see it's not being adhered to, you correct it.

When the CA alert went off in the Tower 31 seconds before impact, you hear "dead air" on the radios meaning the crew was alerting their attention to it and you don't hear other routing transmissions that would normally be taking place. An appropriate action at that time was not, "Pat 25 do you have the RJ in sight?" It should have been precise and immediate control instructions to fix the helicopter's F up.

I'm holding Pat 25 primarily responsible, both the male instructor pilot and the female pilot. Definitely not the young crew chief, he has no responsibility here. Secondarily, the tower shift supervisor, local controller (you hear him on the radio) and (coordinator/assist position if manned depending on what specifically they were doing at the time leading up to the collision) at least partially if not equally responsible. DCA Tower leadership as well has responsibility based on the procedure as I am able to understand it and then also BIG Army leadership (aviation side) for allowing NVD's to be used in such congested and challenging airspace.

 

Sounds like you’re talking about a lot of posters in here. Everyone on here seems to be an expert in everything because they read something on the internet

 

The offer wasn’t early retirement it was resignation. Completely different.

 

Sounds like the skidmark in the WH

 

Even better, are the folks who convince themselves they know *MORE* than the experts, because of what they gathered on Twitter or because they “learned” from a lengthy YouTube vid.

 

I would venture to say other 1st world countries have far fewer ATC per capita and manage just fine. This particular issue appears to be more confined to Reagan National, as it is widely considered the most dangerous airport in the country. I’m not saying we need to entice ATC’s in other cities to resign, but it just makes sense that such a highly congested airspace is going to be more likely to facilitate this type of disaster.

 

Did you just describe the dotard you helped elect to the WH? The guy who publicly babbles out laughable, frequently racist, BS based on his "common sense"?

 

While you're correct regarding Reagan National there is a reason why the US may have more air traffic controllers per capita than any other country. The US has more airports than any other country in the world as well as several of the world's busiest. We a very real need for the most robust ATC system in the world.
https://simpleflying.com/10-countries-most-airports-world/
Passenger Traffic by Air / Countries of the World

 

I always fly in and out of Dulles. National is scary to drive in and out of, much less fly.

 

My preference is for National based on location. It's roughly a 20 minute drive from my home compared to a 40 to 45 minute drive to Dulles or at least a 45-minute drive to BWI. That being said airfare is usually my deciding factor. Last time I traveled I flew out of BWI, decided that the drive was worth saving several hundred dollars in airfare for two round trip tickets.

 

A friend of mine said there were only 5 ATC's on duty. One was a trainee and one was a supervisor. He said the supervisor would have been working with the trainee and at other times would have been looking over the shoulders of the other 3 ATC's. So basically you only had 3 well-trained and experienced controllers fully focused on the job at hand. Just passing on my friend's info. He worked for Eastern Airlines

 

I live about 15 minutes from Dulles. Sometimes BWI is cheaper, but I really don't want to drive to Baltimore. Actually, I haven't flown at all for years. Anxiety has finally grounded me.

 

I always fly in and out of National, and Dulles when I have to (usually international). National is a 10-15 minute drive outside of bad traffic hours, which are growing in number. Just getting in and out of National by car can be a beast sometimes. Wife has severe flight anxiety, which makes any joint trips an adventure.

 

My son with a guy we ran into when picking up my wife at National Airport a little over 10 years ago,