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Air crash in Washington DC

  • TRUMP did this to the FAA and is now trying to get his fingerprints off it.
  • Leadership Changes:
    • January 21, 2025 – FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker resigned/fired under pressure.
    • January 30, 2025 – Chris Rocheleau appointed Acting FAA Administrator by Trump.
  • Policy Reforms:
    • January 23, 2025 – Trump ended all FAA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs via executive order.
    • January 24, 2025 – FAA hiring policies revised to focus only on merit and safety.
  • Organizational Restructuring:
    • January 21, 2025 – Trump dissolved the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, citing inefficiency.
  • Response to the Potomac River Mid-Air Collision:
    • January 29, 2025 – Fatal mid-air collision over the Potomac River, killing 67 people.
    • January 30, 2025 – Trump ordered an immediate safety review of FAA protocols.
    • January 30, 2025 – Trump blamed prior FAA diversity hiring policies for potential safety risks.
    • offmenut said:
      It's got nothing to do with staffing or atc

      It's a helicopter pilot flying towards a plane in the dark and for some reason not seeing the plane.
      Click to expand...
      you are correct its human error
 

dangermows said:
Wooh hang on, you're suggesting some sort of suicide mission? Bloody hell. I've not seen much of this but news were saying there were two planes. Was he not confirming sight of another plane?
Click to expand...

A mate said the same as @offmenut last night about it being deliberate. His reasoning was a video of the helicopters flightpath before the collision which he showed me. Other planes were visible and the helicopter seemed to be making a deliberate attempt to intercept two other planes before turning away from them and hitting the CRJ. It will probably be completely innocent but it did look suspicious. No idea if its been posted on here, but I've searched for said video on Tw@tter but can't find it.

Whilst looking for it there's a lot of tweets about the Black Hawk pilot being transgender and hating Trump. That person has had to go public to stop the rumours but the damage will already have been done. I wonder if this where Trump got his diversity statement from.
 
cornish mackem said:
I worked at LHR in the ambulance service and I can remember the air ambulance needing to land at Hatton Cross for a car crash. They didn’t close the south runway but by lad wasn’t there heightened awareness of a helicopter anywhere near the incoming stuff and there helicopter very much fit in around the flights. Middle of the day and loads of communication and listening to the radio traffic it was slick. Stressful to listen to never mind be up there doing it

That doesn’t stop him talking shite. Didn’t he talk about injecting bleach during Covid ?
Click to expand...
I was listening to some professional wifey on LBC last night and she was explaining that because Trump has absolutely no filter, his lawyers prevented him from speaking completely in his many court cases. When he has been allowed to speak, like the inauguration, this crash press briefing and the "bleach" comment during Covid, he comes out with most ridiculous, dangerous things and sometimes just outright lies.

The Americans who voted for this maniac are going to no doubt regret their ludicrous decision and I just hope that the UK isn't impacted as a country.

He's like a petulant child who has a monk on after losing at the last election, intent on lashing out at anything and everything that he sees as not being alpha male, or just doing what that even bigger maniac, Elon Musk, tells him to.
 
offmenut said:
Have you seen the radar replay ?
The helicopter flies more or less straight for the plane - the plane is in his 11 o'clock .that's not a blind spot. A blind spot is approaching to cross and the plane is in his 7/8 o'clock

There are lights in the city , but not in the sky at 500ft - 1000ft where the helicopter pilot should be looking.
The plane is a couple of hundred feet above the helicopter when the helicopter heads straight for it , but I assume helicopters windscreens are huge with great visibility
Click to expand...
the plane was goning to land on runway 01, then as it was on Final approach was changed to runway 33 (the numbers are degrees for those not inot aviation), this change made the plane have to 'swing' in an S to change direction putting it in harms way of the chopper. The chopper was too high it was meant to be 200ft. The plane the chopper saw was the plane behind the one it hit
 
Hue Jorgan said:
  • TRUMP did this to the FAA and is now trying to get his fingerprints off it.
  • Leadership Changes:
    • January 21, 2025 – FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker resigned/fired under pressure.
    • January 30, 2025 – Chris Rocheleau appointed Acting FAA Administrator by Trump.
  • Policy Reforms:
    • January 23, 2025 – Trump ended all FAA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs via executive order.
    • January 24, 2025 – FAA hiring policies revised to focus only on merit and safety.
  • Organizational Restructuring:
    • January 21, 2025 – Trump dissolved the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, citing inefficiency.
  • Response to the Potomac River Mid-Air Collision:
    • January 29, 2025 – Fatal mid-air collision over the Potomac River, killing 67 people.
    • January 30, 2025 – Trump ordered an immediate safety review of FAA protocols.
    • January 30, 2025 – Trump blamed prior FAA diversity hiring policies for potential safety risks.

    • you are correct its human error
Click to expand...
This has Musk's fingerprints all over it I'd say
 
The Lambton Worm said:
A mate said the same as @offmenut last night about it being deliberate. His reasoning was a video of the helicopters flightpath before the collision which he showed me. Other planes were visible and the helicopter seemed to be making a deliberate attempt to intercept two other planes before turning away from them and hitting the CRJ. It will probably be completely innocent but it did look suspicious. No idea if its been posted on here, but I've searched for said video on Tw@tter but can't find it.

Whilst looking for it there's a lot of tweets about the Black Hawk pilot being transgender and hating Trump. That person has had to go public to stop the rumours but the damage will already have been done. I wonder if this where Trump got his diversity statement from.
Click to expand...
fck me why is it always a conspiricy? thats bollix
 
offmenut said:
Have you seen the radar replay ?
The helicopter flies more or less straight for the plane - the plane is in his 11 o'clock .that's not a blind spot. A blind spot is approaching to cross and the plane is in his 7/8 o'clock

There are lights in the city , but not in the sky at 500ft - 1000ft where the helicopter pilot should be looking.
The plane is a couple of hundred feet above the helicopter when the helicopter heads straight for it , but I assume helicopters windscreens are huge with great visibility
Click to expand...
I have watched it once and, while I’m not disagreeing with you, I think it would be useful to have a better idea of exactly what the heli pilots could see.

I realise that the heli pilots will have been looking at 500-1000ft but, in a big, dense city, there is at least the possibility that the CRJ lights blended into other backgrounds lights.

Time will tell of course and you may well be right.
 
Hue Jorgan said:
the plane was goning to land on runway 01, then as it was on Final approach was changed to runway 33 (the numbers are degrees for those not inot aviation), this change made the plane have to 'swing' in an S to change direction putting it in harms way of the chopper. The chopper was too high it was meant to be 200ft. The plane the chopper saw was the plane behind the one it hit
Click to expand...
It was always going on 33.. you dont make a runway change that late.
When the helicopter pilot checks in and asks to go visual he is told straight away - your traffic is the crj at Woodrow bridge , 1200' for runway 33

I posted this vid earlier as it's the best one I've seen which shows that

You must be logged on to see media items

You can see the radar relays of the helicopter going straight for the crj. The plane is in his 11 o'clock (granted a few hundred feet higher , but the lights from the plane you would think impossible to miss)

The atco says when he gets a conflict alert - just make sure you go behind the crj.
If the helicopter pilot is confused and looking at the plane 6 miles away , how can he go behind it.

It's bizarre and I don't understand it.
Either deliberate or really really incompetent from the helicopter pilot.
c032745y said:
Are you a pilot or have flying experience?
Click to expand...
Air traffic controller
 
PhilY said:
Or he simply was looking at the wrong plane?

It’s really difficult to judge distances in the dark, plus it’s near impossible to judge aircraft type if all you can see are three lights.
Click to expand...
Could the helicopter pilot have mistaken the direction of the plane and instead of steering behind a taking-off aircraft, inadvertently steered in front of the one that was landing?
 
PhilY said:
I have watched it once and, while I’m not disagreeing with you, I think it would be useful to have a better idea of exactly what the heli pilots could see.

I realise that the heli pilots will have been looking at 500-1000ft but, in a big, dense city, there is at least the possibility that the CRJ lights blended into other backgrounds lights.

Time will tell of course and you may well be right.
Click to expand...
The crj was above the helicopter, so the helicopter pilot is looking up at the sky not down where other lights are
 
I've seen the video where you can see the helicopter (well you can only see the light of it) heading straight for the plane. And to my uneducated mind there seems like plenty of time to be able to at least attempt to avoid. But doesn't appear to have tried to do that.
Not going to jump to conclusions from that myself but it is of course very suspicious.
 
Jap Stammer said:
Could the helicopter pilot have mistaken the direction of the plane and instead of steering behind a taking-off aircraft, inadvertently steered in front of the one that was landing?
Click to expand...
Planes take off and land into the wind , so planes taking off will be a mile or so away at the other end of the runway

No chance at all that a plane taking off could confuse the helicopter pilot
 
offmenut said:
It was always going on 33.. you dont make a runway change that late.
When the helicopter pilot checks in and asks to go visual he is told straight away - your traffic is the crj at Woodrow bridge , 1200' for runway 33

I posted this vid earlier as it's the best one I've seen which shows that

You must be logged on to see media items

You can see the radar relays of the helicopter going straight for the crj. The plane is in his 11 o'clock (granted a few hundred feet higher , but the lights from the plane you would think impossible to miss)

The atco says when he gets a conflict alert - just make sure you go behind the crj.
If the helicopter pilot is confused and looking at the plane 6 miles away , how can he go behind it.

It's bizarre and I don't understand it.
Either deliberate or really really incompetent from the helicopter pilot.

Air traffic controller
Click to expand...
Then you'd know being in a helo at low altitude, at night in a busy flying area is a bitch.
 
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