Wow, I had not seen either of these. So many layers to this onion.
The COG comment, followed by President Trump's non-acknowledgement of it is very odd.
I have nothing to base this on, but this might have been a deliberate attack on our Government and our country. And do we know everyone who was on the CRJ? Wichita is airplane "Mecca" with so much aviation activity there.
Here is the radar data of both the helicopter (PAT25) and CRJ (JIA5342).
It does not show the helicopter dropping hundreds of feet. 200 feet is the maximum altitude for the helicopter on the east of DCA. Watch carefully and you will see it climb to 300 feet (shown as 003 in the display black). Bang Ding Ow.
Military aircraft generally use UHF (ultra high frequency) radio bands while non-military aircraft use VHF (very high frequency) radio bands. You can't hear one if you are on the other.
I have not heard any of the UHF helicopter radio traffic so don't know about the RTB calls.
- For airline (part 121) operation I would say it is unusual to get a get a runway change that close to landing.
Force = Mass x Acceleration
You can horse an airliner around the sky, but it won't be graceful. Airline Transport Pilots are taught to fly smoothly for passenger comfort, though some carriers want a "firm" landing.
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Not an operational problem. The workload goes up; buttons need to be punched, knobs twirled, screens changed. All this stuff is supposed to done before the aircraft reaches the final approach point approximately 5 miles from landing.
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Visual separation between aircraft makes it the pilot's responsibility to not hit something. Once the helicopter acknowledged he had the CRJ in sight it is his job to maintain that separation. If he loses sight of the CRJ he is supposed to immediately advise the controller.
ATC relied on a) the helicopter maintaining visual separation, b) the helicopter being at the altitude specified for transiting DCA's airspace, c) the CRJ flying an approach path that would be above the helicopter, and d) the CRJ maintaining a visual lookout for traffic.
All these things worked so well in the past, right?
Suddenly, inside the tower the conflict alert alarm goes off and the controller realizes the helicopter is too high. The controller's last call to the helicopter ("Do you have the traffic?") was his desperate, pleading, hopeful cry for assurance that everything would be OK.
By the time he realized the problem it was too late to do anything about it.
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Yes.
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This goes back to question 3 above, visual separation. When a pilot agrees to maintain visual separation ATC no longer provides guidance.
I suspect this will be one of things that changes (at least in the DCA airspace) in the future. Positive control of all aircraft within the airspace, no more visual separation allowed.
Frens, I was a pilot from 1984 to my retirement in 2016 and still retain my licenses and ratings today. I have provided flight instruction to beginning pilots and jet pilots. All those years I never broke an airplane or had anyone get hurt or killed while i was responsible for them.
With respect to the DCA crash I believe there were two primary errors made, and I am concerned.
One, the CRJ pilots should not have accepted the controller's request to switch their landing runway from runway 1 to runway 33.
Two, the controller should not have put the pilots in the position of having to make that decision.
The controller had an aircraft set up to depart on runway 1 prior to the arrival of the CRJ and for some reason the timing wasn't working out. Maybe departure control wasn't ready to accept that aircraft, maybe the aircraft was slow to get into position, maybe the controller got behind the curve because he was working two positions at the same time.
Regardless, this is why the controller requested the CRJ to change runways. Without this request the accident doesn't happen.
The CRJ pilots had their landing approach configured for runway 1. Accepting the change to runway 33 on short notice disrupted the planned, stabilized approach to landing.
Flying at perhaps 120 mph (two miles a minute) that close to the airport does not give them enough time to prepare properly and most likely put at least one set of eyes inside the airplane instead of looking outside for traffic.
Certainly as professional pilots they could pull it off, but it turned a standard straight in approach into an unplanned, visual circling approach. Circling approaches are much more demanding (the rules change), and in the congested, highly regulated DC airspace the level of awareness and preparation increases the required performance level.
Someone should have said "...this isn't going to work out..." but didn't.
Controller error? Pilot error? Either one of them could have said "...let's do something else...". The fact that neither did is extremely troubling to me as a pilot.
Now that's funnier.
Note to self: must keep an eye on this fren.
The cost/value ratio is even worse with a typical college student.
And we're not allowed to melt them down and start over.
Touché fren!
Those are not winning policies. It's almost like they tried to make the advertisement as un-American as possible so as to drive away conservative customers.
$6.29 "retail" price at our local grocery. They run sales as low as $3.49 every two to three months. That's per pint, so yeah, even on sale it is a lot.
I used to load up the freezer when it was on sale.
Now I just walk on by.
New York Fudge is highly addictive. Just warning you.
I do admire your putting those two things together.
And where do we go from there?
Aliens on Earth.
Pass me the symbiote please.
Press 2 for English.
So glad that list doesn't include Wright's extra thick apple wood smoked bacon!
My faith in God.
What is the point of paying in to a corrupt system that will keep you alive long enough to drain your bank account? And one which I will never willingly use.
When it is time, I'll not put up a fight. I have lived to see Trump v2.0.
It's not a popular strategy but it has saved me tens of thousands of dollars. Haven't been to a doctor since 2002.
Delete mandatory Medicare for retired persons.
I will never use the medical/industrial/pharmaceutical complex.
King takes Bishop
This looks hilarious.
Marked for when I have computer with speakers attached.
Fellow Texan from the McAllen area four miles from the Mexican boarder.
No snow but it sure is cold.
KEK
I was wondering what they were and why his people would think they should be setup as one of the first "decorations' in his office.
Doesn't he drink Trump coffee?
Ohhh, that's a big one! Very entertaining.
This was so interesting!
What a video!
Hopefully President Trump will provide transparency. (pun only partially intended)
Seriously, all these attacks by the "trans" people previously had me thinking they were loosely coordinated. If this comes out as another trans attack the country is going to have to have a serious think about doing something with these mentally ill people.