![Rest in peace to the passengers of this plane. Right now it looks like they were killed because the Washington D.C. police accidentally flew a police helicopter into the airport's airspace. [cw:death]](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/fcf3a242-6256-4cf3-b6e8-6f6de9c18e5a.png){kind=link}
Link to video (crash is the lights on the bottom). Obviously trigger warning for a mass casualty event. https://x.com/MatthewJshow/status/1884791272369541211
Link to video (crash is the lights on the bottom). Obviously trigger warning for a mass casualty event. https://x.com/MatthewJshow/status/1884791272369541211
It was a blackhawk. The various fed agencies apparently fly helis up and down the potomac day and night. It’s usual. Helo was operating visually, was instructed by the tower to cross behind the aircraft on approach. They reported the aircraft in sight, but obviously whatever they saw was something else.
There have been so many close calls over the past couple of years at American airports, and atc is wildly understaffed. This one is squarely on the helo pilots, but a collision has been bound to happen soon.
Aircraft flying up and down through an active approach path needs to stop immediately. And hopefully something is done to address the staffing issues with atc. This is scary.
The aircraft they flew into had a huge bright light on it, along with some others lights, on the vid I’ve seen. How could they miss all that?
Yeahh we’re gonna do some cutbacks, make it more efficient. Leaner. Meaner. Cleaner. Cheaper.
“More efficient” meaning “minimal staff” has been true in business, and presumably government agencies, for years. It’s fucked.
Most likely this is what will happen unfortunately.
That’s too optimistic.
Let’s get AI in there to help
I remember reading somewhere that US airspace is designed to make as much space “free” as possible which makes ATC a nightmare. Whereas everywhere else in the world it’s basically “if you aren’t landing, taking off, or doing a dumb light aviation practice circle, then you aren’t allowed”
Couple that with the ability of the military to just pretend laws don’t apply to them and this was always going to happen. Heck every other week a Blackhawk goes down they seem to be keeping Sikorsky in business.
imagine how bad things would be now if reagan hadnt broken the atc union!
ngl, I’m a little scared to fly into America next month now.
These sorts of events tend to increase caution in the short term. So next month may be among the safest times to fly into the US, as contrary as that feels
I really don’t think you have to be afraid
best I can offer you is an AI ATC that increases incidents by 33% in 5 days.
I don’t think Americans realize how near collapse the domestic airline industry is. It’s way past capacity and falling apart. Like the rest of our infrastructure