Nobody can know what happened until the flight recorders and ATC info is analysed. As such it is entirely improper to start making accusations and even you know that. As a recently requalified private pilot, the call signs indicated that the helicopter was priority traffic, the helicopter pilot says "aircraft is in sight, requesting visual separation" and whether or not he got a response from the tower there is currently no rhyme or reason as to why he didn't change course. When a pilot reports "aircraft in sight, requesting visual separation," they are assuming responsibility to avoid the other aircraft visually. There was a third jet climbing in the area, possibly this caused confusion somehow. I expect it is likely that the Bombardier didn't see the Blackhawk at all. At lower altitudes, the lights can get lost in the city background and usually a captain is in the right seat so that makes visual to the right harder. Not saying the first officer was not in control but close to landing, a FO is busy doing landing checklists. So is there a possibility that ATC put them in the same space? Yes or it may have been a different error. What makes no sense to me right now is the helicopter visually identifying the Bombardier, and failing to avoid it. Taking an I am priority, you move, attitude is not something that happens in real life like this. Spacial senses get more confused at night of course. Trump is a disgrace here, you wait until the flight recorders are recovered. You say that until we have the flight recorders, we don't know. Everybody understands and expects this. People have died, families are grieving, it's not a moment to abuse. That nobody expects better of Trump is not acceptable.Even if he was somehow, accidentally, right its not acceptable.
There were only 19 air traffic controllers on staff at National Airport instead of the recommended 30 because of Biden's DEI push.
https://www.airlines.org/news-updat...faa-to-increase-air-traffic-control-staffing/ “We have been sounding the alarm on this issue for more than a year that our nation’s air traffic control radar facilities are understaffed and overworked,” A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio said. “It’s past time Secretary Buttigieg and Administrator Whitaker take action to solve this crisis and increase staffing.” The latest FAA Controller Workforce Plan shows the agency is still short 3,000 controllers. The 2024 FAA reauthorization law requires the agency to conduct maximum hiring and update its outdated 2014 staffing model. This comes after a June 2023 report from DOT’s Office of Inspector General that said the FAA has made “limited efforts to ensure adequate controller staffing at critical air traffic control facilities” and the agency “lacks a plan” to address this critical issue.
Yes, the lack of air traffic controllers at U.S. airports has been a long term problem. Even back in Trump's first term it was a huge problem -- did Trump fix the problem back in 2017 to 2020? No. Well, I guess he wasn't making America great again.
trump rightfully points out that DEI is the reason a white military pilot flew their helicopter too high and murdered over 60 people... But he missed the mark...illegal immigrants are the real cause of the crash. If the helicopter pilot.was deported this wouldn't have happened.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/feb/1/editorial-faa-turned-away-qualified-air-traffic-co/ FLASHBACK: FAA turned away qualified air traffic controllers based solely on race
Trump fired key aviation safety personal one day after he was sworn in...... on the advice of President Elon Musk. But he was quick to blame Obama and Biden and everything in between. Trump reportedly drove out key aviation safety officials before crash — because of Musk President Donald Trump fired or pushed out some of the relevant officials who would otherwise be responsible for looking into a collision between a passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter near Washington, D.C. The Federal Aviation Administration currently has no Senate-confirmed leader after top administrator Michael Whitaker was forced out under pressure from Elon Musk, who had demanded his resignation in September for proposing fines of more than $600,000 for SpaceX over safety concerns, reported The Daily Beast. Aviation industry veteran Chris Rocheleau was sworn as deputy FAA administrator on Jan. 21, the day after Donald Trump was sworn in, and Whitaker resigned one year into his five-year term, so Rocheleau is currently in charge of responding to the worst air disaster since at least 2009. “The United States is the safest and most complex airspace in the world, and that is because of your commitment to the safety of the flying public,” Whitaker wrote in an email to FAA employees when he announced his resignation in December. Musk has complained that Whitaker was blocking his goal of sending humans to Mars. Trump also fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee the day after taking office, saying that the Department of Homeland Security was eliminating the membership of all advisory committees to eliminate the purported misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security.” Before the newly inaugurated president reportedly fired them, the panel included representatives from airlines, major unions and members of a group associated with the victims of the PanAm 103 bombing, and the vast majority of their recommendations for safety measures have been adopted over the years. “I naively thought, ‘oh they’re not going to do anything in the new administration, to put security at risk — aviation security at risk,’ but I’m not so sure,” said Stephanie Bernstein, whose husband was killed in the bombing and served on the committee, eight days before the collision that killed 67 people in both aircraft. The Trump administration also sent an email this week to 2.3 million federal employees from the Office of Personnel Management, which is now packed with Musk allies and loyalists, asking them to commit to the MAGA mission or accept a buyout. Air traffic controllers were among the millions of government workers who received the email, which used similar language to a message sent to Twitter employees when Musk took over in fall 2022, even though the FAA has already been trying to manage a persistent shortage of those crucial aviation safety workers.