Plane Crash In DC

It would be nice if every thread, especially one about a tragic aviation accident, didn't degenerate into an argument about Donald Trump.
As others have said, it would be nice if the ◊◊◊◊ didn't keep inserting his stupid voice into every situation.

How do you feel about Trump making your position on DEI look so breathtakingly stupid?
 
Yes. Yes he does. At least his rather singular version of reality.

And there are actually Americans who claim that the world does not laugh at the USA.
Yeah and Trump has gaslit (gaslighted?) his maga weirdos so thoroughly that they credulously believe it's exactly backwards.
 
It would be nice if every thread, especially one about a tragic aviation accident, didn't degenerate into an argument about Donald Trump.
Make a deal with you. When he stops attempting to gaslight the nation with bull ◊◊◊◊ narratives, we'll stop pointing it out. 'Kay?
 
Mention has been made of the Army crew on board the UH-60 which may have unintentionally caused the collision. Military dot com reports:
Three unidentified Army soldiers died after their Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger flight over Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night during an annual training exercise, according to the Pentagon. The UH-60 helicopter was from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Heather Chairez, a Joint Task Force North-National Capital Region spokesperson, told Military.com. Military dot com article link (may be partially paywalled

One crew member has been identified, Ryan O’Hara, the crew chief.
 
It would be nice if every thread, especially one about a tragic aviation accident, didn't degenerate into an argument about Donald Trump.
Well, given that Trump made some really inflammatory comments about the crash........
 
In what I think is a breaking story, the New York Times is reporting that Reagan Airport's control tower has been "understaffed for years." Even given the chronic understaffing, last night was unusual.
Background: My father was retired from the FAA. Not an ATC but he worked with them.
Reagan, back it was DC national. has always been a nightmare for ATC. it was the kind of place you did not want to get assigned to and if assigned you tried to get transferred from as soon as possible.
 
TO early to tell, but I got a feeling most of the blame will go on the Army pilot. He seems to have violated a lot of the rules.
I suspect his Commanding Officer is going to get grilled.
Ip resume the Helicoper having some sort of failure is not a realisitc possiboity. The Black Hawk has a very good reliability record. That is why is has been around for 45years and is not going to get replaced any time soon.
Used by many countries. Standard for the Australian Military for instance.
 
As others have said, it would be nice if the ◊◊◊◊ didn't keep inserting his stupid voice into every situation.
Indeed, it's not as if I want to hear Trump's voice opining stupidly about everything under the sun. As someone who occasionally has to participate in transportation and industrial accidents, I feel I have something to add to this discussion. This appears to be an operational problem, not an engineering problem. So it's somewhat off-center from what I would usually be asked to look at.

But the notion of trying to find out what happened is cut off at the knees when the person with the loudest bullhorn in the nation confidently proclaims that he has decided for everyone what caused the accident. Not speculation. Not a vow to support the investigation. Not sympathy for the victims, families, and others affected. Not thanks for the first responders. Those are the only things a political leader should be saying at a time like this. It's offensive enough that Trump oversteps his bounds for political brownie points. It's just made so much worse when he's so offensively ignorant about the facts.

Trying to apply our best understanding is pointless when the buffoon of a President just shouts everyone down on every subject and controls the discourse. As we try to understand what the pilots and controllers may have been dealing with, we have to contend with fact-free declarations that they were "intellectually handicapped" and other patently ignorant claims.

Some people seem to think these are just political games and that somehow the real world will continue to operate safely and profitably as it always has. That is not going to happen. When stupid or opportunistic people in positions of power lie in a way undermines the work of their betters, no one wins. If the experts are not allowed to investigate this accident without political interference to reach a predetermined conclusion, more people will die. It is literally that simple.
 
It is inevitable that Trump will massage the facts (what are those?) to allign with his preferred narrative. He will make sure his sycophants in the appropriate agencies validate that narrative and the maga weirdos will nod and say "told you so." It would ne nice if the legacy media would exert a little pushback but they're too busy sucking . . . up.
 
One crew member has been identified, Ryan O’Hara, the crew chief.

NPR is reporting the male pilot had 1,000 flying hours. The co-pilot -- assistant aircraft commander in Army lingo -- was a woman and had 500 flight hours. Apparently they were on a proficiency training mission, not flying an 'air taxi' mission. It doesn't seem clear whether the aircraft commander or the assistant aircraft commander was at the controls. NPR article link
 
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If only that Air Traffic Controller was in charge of Air Force One.

(Yes, of course I have sympathy for the actual people involved and their families. I just can't resist a proper dig at the POSOTUS since he wedged himself into the situation.)
 

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