#dca crash

[clearancecreedwatersurvival]

it just sucks that the us is gonna milk max's tragedy for sympathy points at the olympics when it's the fault of the US government that his parents are dead at all

[flavinbagel]

A US Army helicopter crashed into a jet airliner

Everything we've so far seems to suggest that the Army is entirely responsible, and there's things I've learned from the days before this deadly accident that are just shocking.

CW: Mass Casualties.

I mentioned in an earlier post I reblogged that final reports on this incident wouldn't come for a while, that we would have to wait for a thorough investigation and report from the NTSB. For now, though, a lot of important details have been made available just through the recorded Air Traffic Control (ATC) audio regarding the mid-air collision over Washington DC's R**gan National Airport (DCA) between a CRJ-700 regional passenger jet and a Sikorsky UH-60 BlackHawk military helicopter. I firmly believe something is deeply wrong with how the US Army is operating--moreso than usual, I mean.

In this video, an airline captain does a fantastic breakdown of the radio communications/radar screen from this incident, (VIDEO OF THE COLLISION IS SHOWN) helping translate all the chatter and offer his insight. Basically, the Army Blackhawk helicopter was asking for "visual separation" from the tower, meaning it's all on the chopper to look out the window and not hit anything (in sky right-of-way, helicopters must yield to airplanes), and the tower let them do this while asking, "Hey you see that plane that's trying to land, right? Go behind him, ok?" and the chopper said they had the traffic in sight, but it seemed as if they were looking at a whole different plane, much further away. After all, these Army choppers are used to just kinda...doing whatever, and the controllers at DCA know this.

What gives this tragedy a sordid twist is when you see this series of events literally the day before, in which a (different) US Army helicopter very nearly does the same thing to a landing airliner at DCA, triggering the TCAS system on each plane... and then they do it twice more.

TCAS is basically an airplane's "if(goingToCrash){ dont(); }" system, which, if flying planes get close enough, feeds the pilots of both planes on a collision course opposing evasive maneuvers, called an RA. An RA occurring at all is cause for serious scrutiny in any event, because it means something else went terribly wrong. It also sets off alarm bells in the actual control tower. This shit has saved many lives.

In the video from the night before though, you can see the military helicopter ask for visual separation (familiar), fly so close to an airliner that they get an RA, continue flying right up the line of approaching planes, buzz past, and trigger an RA on TWO MORE landing airliners. That's three RAs from the TCAS system, almost like the army guys were playing connect-the-dots.

The following fateful night, this CRJ-700 was exactly where it was supposed to be: turning on a weird short final, focused on the runway, making sure the plane is landing safely without worrying about anyone getting in the way. Once you get low enough to the ground, TCAS shuts off (for complicated but pretty sound reasons) so these helicopter pilots did not have that last line of defense to lean against when they got as close as they did. If what I see is what I think I saw, I am disgusted at the cavalier mentality and behavior of these Army pilots. In the video with the three RAs the helicopter didn't even acknowledge what they'd done (over civilian radio, at least) as three airliners had to fly off and reset their approaches.

Now three Army soldiers and a whole plane full of innocent people, including members of the US figure skating team, have been needlessly killed. Obviously this was an accident, and one from which we will learn, but the more I learn about what happened the angrier I get.

[babyenemychild]

Information regarding American Eagle Flight 5342

American Eagle Flight 5342 en route from Wichita, Kansas (ICT), to Washington, D.C. (DCA) was involved in an accident at DCA. The flight was

American Airlines CEO statement regarding Flight 5342

SEE MORE

[alwaysupdatenews24]

Fatalities confirmed after passenger plane collides with Army Black Hawk, source say

Read More

[socialjusticefail]

This video from blancolirio is about the visibility study that the NTSB did for the mid-air crash that occurred around DCA airport in Washington, DC. This video explains where things are in this video.

[stephen-barry]

*opinion*

DCA crash puts Trump's appalling unfitness on full display;

When crisis hits, he makes it worse.

DCA crash puts Trump's appalling unfitness on full display

When crisis hits, he makes it worse.

[werothegreat]

How the hell does a military helicopter - one of the most dextrous flying machines ever created - accidentally hit a passenger plane? Explain that to me.

Something is going on, and there is no way in hell I'm flying for the next four years.