NPR

Yeeb wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 11:57 amSure , but freezing of a new hire won’t have had any impact on two controllers being in there rather than one, even in America I think they would have a bit of training first ;)

I just don’t see how the don could have any impact on this accident at all, unlike future investigations / clamour of demand for people wanting to work ATC / anyone in a box he doesn’t like being put off applying

Blackmac wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2025 6:17 pm I think the suggestion is that the helicopter pilot and ATC thought that he had a visual on the aircraft but may have actually had a visual on a different plane further to the south.

Jockaline wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 12:49 pm

Blackmac wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2025 6:17 pm I think the suggestion is that the helicopter pilot and ATC thought that he had a visual on the aircraft but may have actually had a visual on a different plane further to the south.

Can't imagine what the ATC on duty must be feeling :( Trump has decided based on his hunch that it was all their fault.

If only one person was on duty that's crazy, they were likely stressed and overwhelmed without support, even if they followed standard procedures to the letter. A sudden illness could debilitate them - not saying it did here.

I had thought of going to the states to visit a friend later in the year, but that's now less likely as my confidence in US airlines and airports is on a downwards trajectory. I doubt I'll be alone, there's lots of nervous flyers out there.

Raggs wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 12:04 pm

Yeeb wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 11:57 amSure , but freezing of a new hire won’t have had any impact on two controllers being in there rather than one, even in America I think they would have a bit of training first ;)

I just don’t see how the don could have any impact on this accident at all, unlike future investigations / clamour of demand for people wanting to work ATC / anyone in a box he doesn’t like being put off applying

You think everyone in the pipeline is kept on for now? I suspect new hire means no one in the pipeline stays on. It's an insane rate of drop out, from thousands of applicants starting the assessment process, down to a couple of hundreds actually hired.

Marylandolorian wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 4:47 pm The NY Times created what the Blk Hawk pilots might have done and see just before the crash.
Hope you can pass the paywall

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... ilots.html

Enzedder wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2025 12:34 am Jaysus - they damn near had another one in Chicago (caught on film per this link)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/36059472 ... -collision

Gumboot wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2025 2:04 am

Enzedder wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2025 12:34 am Jaysus - they damn near had another one in Chicago (caught on film per this link)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/36059472 ... -collision

I hope the crew of that smaller jet never gets to see the inside of a cockpit again.

Gumboot wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2025 2:04 am

Enzedder wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2025 12:34 am Jaysus - they damn near had another one in Chicago (caught on film per this link)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/36059472 ... -collision

I hope the crew of that smaller jet never gets to see the inside of a cockpit again.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday called for immediate changes at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, saying the current helicopter routes around the busy airport "pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety" in the wake of January's collision that killed 67 people.

Chairman Jennifer Homendy said the NTSB is recommending that the Federal Aviation Administration permanently ban helicopter operations near Reagan when runways 15 and 33 are in use and designate an alternative helicopter route for pilots.

Homendy outlined a history of close calls at Reagan and said the NTSB continues to the investigate the devastating crash between an American Airlines plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed all passengers on board both aircraft.

The crash happened on the night of Jan. 29 when the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people on board, was about to land at Reagan (DCA). The three soldiers in the helicopter were conducting an annual training flight and night vision goggle check at the time of the collision.

Between October 2021 and December 2024, there were 944,179 commercial operations at Reagan, Homendy said. During that time, there were 15,214 close proximity events between commercial airplanes and helicopters with a lateral separation of less than 1 nautical mile and a vertical separation of less than 400 feet, she said. There were 85 events where the lateral separation was less than 1,500 feet and the vertical separation was less than 200 feet, she said.

Helicopters on "the Route 4 helicopter corridor at the maximum authorized altitude of 200 feet could have only about 75 feet of vertical separation from an airplane on landing approach to Runway 33," the NTSB said in a statement. "Vertical separation could potentially be even less than 75 feet depending on the helicopter’s lateral distance from the Potomac River shoreline or if an approaching airplane was below the designated visual glidepath to Runway 33."

Homendy said 75 feet is an "intolerable risk to aviation safety."

...

Encounters between helicopters and commercial aircraft near Reagan show that, from 2011 through 2024, a vast majority of reported events occurred on approach to landing, she said.

At least one Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) resolution advisory -- the most serious warning which tells the pilots to take immediate evasive action to avoid a collision -- was triggered per month at Reagan due to proximity to a helicopter from 2011 to 2024, Homendy said.

Homendy said that in over half of the encounters the NTSB reviewed, the helicopter may have been flying above the altitude restriction. Two-thirds of the encounters occurred at night.

...