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Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

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Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#511

Post by venusenvy47 »

neuronexmachina wrote: post #458
venusenvy47 wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that the head of the FAA and TSA were forced to resign, and a hiring freeze on air traffic controllers is suddenly in effect, I don't think the current government wants to improve flight safety. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2025-0...

> Considering that the head of the FAA and TSA were forced to resign For context, the heads of the FAA and TSA are supposed to serve 5-year terms. The FAA Admin (Michael Whitaker) who was forced out started serving in Oct 2023. The TSA Admin (David Pekoske) was first appointed in 2017, and then nominated for another 5-year term in 2022. As far as I'm aware, this is the first time those positions have ever been told t…

I've been avoiding the typical outrageous statements from the current POTUS for many years, but his comments at his press conference today, about how DEI hiring could be responsible for this accident, are just unbelievable. And all of a sudden it seems to have made him to decide that the FAA needs a director today.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#512

Post by jrs235 »

beedeebeedee wrote: post #449
naasking wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> I have no stake here I don't want to sound flippant, but if you have no familiarity with a system and what it does, then you won't be able to make any useful judgments about it. This new administration has made it clear that they do not know the function of these agencies but have decided to destroy their structures. As a concerned bystander who has some knowledge and stake in them continuing to function, it is dee…

They're blindly and foolishly tearing down Chesterton's fence.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#513

Post by callc »

amazingamazing wrote: post #445
brendoelfrendo wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that a strike can be illegal is, in and of itself, an erosion of worker rights.

unpopular opinion - but public workers should not be able to go on strike, and in fact shouldn't even be allowed to unionize. it's antithetical to democracy. they should simply run for office and change things, not hold taxpayers' services hostage. unions make sense for private organizations because private organizations are effectively authoritarian entities, not democracies. there is no mechanism in which you could…

That’s a good point against unionization for government employees.

But anti-union is against the right to assemble, and any law requiring an individual to work goes against some very basic freedoms (self-determination, slavery?)

Let’s not make stripping away of freedoms a common thing that employers, government or private, can do. Rights are rights.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#514

Post by jrs235 »

Larrikin wrote: post #482
brendoelfrendo wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not even a buyout. They have to work for those 8 months; it's not a severance package.

There's also no evidence they have the money to pay if the offers were in good faith. Combined with the fact the two people who came up with the idea have a history of deciding not to pay and instead go to the courts to avoid paying

From what I have seen, if a worker agress to it, they agree they could be reassigned or terminated early (and thus not paid the same or at all). Seems like a trap.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#515

Post by baggy_trough »

venusenvy47 wrote: post #511
neuronexmachina wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Considering that the head of the FAA and TSA were forced to resign For context, the heads of the FAA and TSA are supposed to serve 5-year terms. The FAA Admin (Michael Whitaker) who was forced out started serving in Oct 2023. The TSA Admin (David Pekoske) was first appointed in 2017, and then nominated for another 5-year term in 2022. As far as I'm aware, this is the first time those positions have ever been told t…

I've been avoiding the typical outrageous statements from the current POTUS for many years, but his comments at his press conference today, about how DEI hiring could be responsible for this accident, are just unbelievable. And all of a sudden it seems to have made him to decide that the FAA needs a director today.

[flagged]

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#516

Post by dboreham »

m2fkxy wrote: post #304
whataguy wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s likely both the helicopter and the jet received a TCAS warning. In dense airspaces, those alerts tend to trigger frequently, so there’s a strong chance they may have dismissed it. The CRJ crew might have been aware of the Blackhawk’s presence, but if the other crew had visual contact with the approaching traffic (the CRJ), they might not have felt the need to take further action.

TCAS RAs are inhibited at low altitude.

I've seen this comment widely. But...why doesn't TCAS show the pilots at least as much information as I would have seen on my phone if I'd been browsing flightradar at the time? It's one thing to design a system with "don't saturate the operator with audible alerts" but another to say that it's appropriate to withhold very valuable information from the operator ("there are loads of planes in the general vicinity, but yeah look at that one coming at you from the left").

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#517

Post by pfdietz »

paulddraper wrote: post #402
ketanmaheshwari wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this true for the trained pilots as well?

It's next to impossible to know at night. The only thing you have visually is direction / angular velocity.

And if you're on a collision course the other vehicle will appear motionless, with no change in direction.

If the airliners was approaching faster than the helicopter it could have been approaching from behind. How large is the field of view of a UH-60?

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#518

Post by gumball-amp »

recursive wrote: post #473
bayarearefugee wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Where did that come from? There are some things in life that don't revolve around identity politics, and I'd venture to say, ATC is one of them.

Unfortunately, there's a long-standing scandal and lawsuit around the ATC and its hiring practices that will inevitably play into the analysis of this tragedy -- details here: https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-faas-hiring-scandal-...

I can well believe it has absolutely nothing to do with this disaster, but I don't think either political side has any interest in arguing over the fine points of that distinction.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#519

Post by RandomBacon »

UltraSane wrote: post #425
pirate787 wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The program needs to have high standards and I imagine some of the reasons for failing are related to ability under pressure.

Imagine if they only let people take the bar exam once.

While missing a comma can have great impact, it isn't the same as missing traffic, and ATC doesn't have the luxury of rough drafts.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#520

Post by TheGRS »

davidw wrote: post #456
TheGRS wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I had the same thought, its a ticky-tacky thing to say right now, but I wouldn't expect any more from the other side either.

And there it is. He's out there saying it right now.

Yep, I should have expected it honestly. This is a pretty great opening for an aspiring Democratic leader right now, there are no sacred topics for political clout anymore.
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