There are all sorts of ways a brain can malfunction that can take several seconds for others to notice. That the pilot didn’t respond to air traffic control suggests to me a brain problem, not a mechanical problem. But i expect we’ll learn more after the debris is examined.
Details obviously still emerging, the NYT is reporting the last recorded altitude from the helicopter was 200 ft. So the helicopter was flying very, very close to the end of the runway.
The CRJ’s last altitude on Flightradar24 was 400 ft, hence my comment, but that’s not definitive.
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I do not think Putin would commit a major terrorist attack against the US over a friggin skater.
My random guess is this will (in retrospect) turn out to be a easily avoidable helicopter pilot error, that is fine 99.9% of the time.
Early speculation that I heard was that the helicopter may have confirmed visual on a different plane (there was one taking off at the same time) and may have never seen the landing plane they actually hit. Don’t know if that’s still in the cards.
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There are at least some military (air force and air guard) bases that actually share an airport. My SIL, a helicopter pilot, is currently stationed at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM where it shares with Sunport airport. I know there is an Air National Guard base at SLC’s International Airport. And he mentioned about restrictions that are in place at Nellis where he was stationed previously to avoid conflict with Harry Reid International Airport. So I’m sure there are many many more.
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The theory I’ve seen on aviation forums is the helicopter pilot was watching the wrong regional jet and didn’t see the one they hit.
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There’s another video from a dashcam that was much closer. It looked pretty dramatic.
There’s a helipad at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, right across the river from that runway.
I don’t know that that’s the reason, but the military base was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the map.
EDIT: Google Maps link
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Looking at the flight paths above, the Blackhawk turned away from that helipad and directly into the flight path.
Anyway, according to our piece of shit of a president, it was due to DEI, Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, helicopter pilots with bad vision, and mentally and psychologically incompetent air traffic controllers… So there’s your answer.
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Duh, he’s said before: he’s very smart, because he has a brain.
MTV and the producers of “The Real World” must be incredibly proud to have trained him for this moment and these kids of expert observations.
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Also I feel like I need to add. Downtown DC traffic sucks. Always feel like I’m going to get into an accident. Seems unsurprising that there would be helicopters randomly flying in front of runways also.
My wife listened to Trump’s remarks and she is fuming. I am not going to bother watching what he said after her reaction. Four more years of this guy….,
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The front fell off. They’ve now towed the aircraft beyond the environment.
Only a matter of time before Trump blames Canada for the crash because it was a Bombardier CRJ. Plane wouldn’t have crashed if it had been built in America by Boeing……
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From my very limited understanding, the track of the helicopter is less accurate than that of the passenger plane as the positions were obtained from a different tracking method that is inherently less accurate (I think by triangulating measurements from receivers operated by hobbyists, though I could be wrong, while the planes position is from GPS positions broadcast by the plane). The helicopter track data likely needs to be treated with caution e.g. it could have been traveling in a straight line with a near constant height, but the track looks jagged when zoomed in because of measurement error.
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Understood, and it bears mentioning that I don’t know whether that was the helicopter’s destination. My intent was just to offer an explanation of why a helicopter might be in the approach airspace of that DCA runway.
The air traffic congestion, combined with the tightly restricted airspace due all the government facilities led to the recommendation after 9/11 that DCA be closed.
Congresspeople, who didn’t like the prospect of schlepping out to Dulles and possibly giving up the perk of their extra close-in parking lot, said “no”.
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I certainly hope not. No clue how emboldened he may feel with Trump in office though. 