Thread: Passenger Jet Collides with Black Hawk Helicopter, Crashes into Potomac

^ yes - according to the stable genius and his internet acolytes , this is the result of putting a dwarf , black ,blind , lesbian with no legs into the Air Traffic control .

the post below seems more likely

A lot of people asking what the helo was doing there. USCG helo pilot here who’s flown that route a thousand times:

DC has a whole network of helo routes and zones designed to organize helo traffic and route it under and around commercial traffic. Route 4 goes right down the east side of the Potomac, max altitude of 200 ft. It is not uncommon for helos to be flying under landing traffic once visual separation is established and with correct altitudes maintained.

From the ADSB data, it looks like the helo was southbound on Route 4, and the airliner was on final to rwy 33. Here’s one plausible scenario… just one that fits the facts we know right now, could be totally wrong: Landing on 33 is not as common as landing on rwy 1. Airliners are often not cleared/switched for RWY 33 until just a few miles south of the Wilson Bridge. Let’s say the H60 is southbound and is told to maintain visual separation with the landing CRJ. The 60 crew may not have caught that the CRJ in question was landing 33, which is less common. They look south and see lights of the next aircraft lined up for RWY 01, and they report “traffic in sight, will maintain visual separation.” Then they cruise south, looking south. Maybe the CRJ is a little low on their approach or the H60 is accidentally a little high on their route and fails to see the CRJ approaching from their 10 o’clock. The CRJ is focused on DCA which is surrounded by a sea of lights in the metro area. They don’t notice one small set of lights out of place at their 1-2 o’clock as they focus on the runway. The controller believes the helo will maintain visual separation so wouldn’t suspect a problem until too late to do anything.

Full press conference

Originally Posted by taxexile

pprune forum for pilots has a thread on this. possibility that copters navigation aids and transponders are not fully operative at the low altitude that it was operating in at the time of the crash.

TCAS aural warnings are inhibited below 500'. Nav aids and transponders will be working okay.

The problem is that TCAS warnings would probably be ignored due to the heavy traffic in this area anyway.

Originally Posted by Bonecollector

Dare I say a terrorist event.

More like an accident waiting to happen due to greed leading to more air traffic than rules allow.

Originally Posted by baldrick

putting a dwarf , black ,blind , lesbian with no legs into the Air

my morning workout is it you on the spycam?

....

Leaderless FAA begins investigation of Washington plane crash | Washington DC plane crash | The Guardian

Questions swirled in Washington on Thursday as the Federal Aviation Administration began its investigation of the Reagan airport crash without a permanent leader – its former chief resigned 10 days ago, after Elon Musk, the SpaceX CEO and close adviser to Donald Trump, called for him to quit.

Michael Whitaker, a 30-year aviation industry veteran, was unanimously confirmed as FAA administrator by the Senate in October 2023. He resigned last Monday, the day Trump was inaugurated as president.


On Wednesday night, a military Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet. On Thursday, as bodies were removed from the Potomac River, officials said all 67 people onboard the two aircraft were dead.


When Trump’s new secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, was asked, “Is there an acting FAA director?” he walked away from reporters.


Trump named Chris Rocheleau, who had a long career with the FAA after joining it in 1996, as acting FAA administrator until a permanent choice is confirmed by the Senate.


The National Business Aviation Association, which Rocheleau led before returning to the FAA, hailed “an outstanding leader who will be good for the FAA, good for aviation and good for the country, especially at this challenging time”.


Rocheleau was reported to be back at the FAA last week. But according to Reuters, “the FAA for 10 days has declined to say who was running the agency on an acting basis.”


On Thursday, Musk’s clashes with the FAA and Whitaker were back in the headlines.


Musk’s anger grew from commercial interests including competition with Boeing for government contracts. In 2022, the FAA fined Starlink, a SpaceX subsidiary, for violations of safety protocol. Musk also said the agency needed “radical reform” and complained that it was “harassing SpaceX”.


In September 2024, Whitaker proposed fines of more than $600,000 for SpaceX, over alleged violations of its government license in two rocket launches.


Musk, the world’s richest person, worth more than $400bn, said: “He needs to resign.”


Whitaker might have agreed with Musk about the need for FAA reform, as he confronted challenges including run-down facilities and staff shortages contributing to a morale crisis among air traffic controllers.


But in December, after Trump defeated Joe Biden, Whitaker said he would quit.


He told staff: “As I conclude my time at the FAA, my confidence in you to meet our safety mission has never been stronger.”


The Reagan airport crash was the first major air disaster in the US since 2009.


Addressing reporters, Trump blamed the crash on his political enemies, and on diversity, equity and inclusion policies at the FAA.


Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, called those remarks “disgusting”.


Saying it would take time to find out why the crash happened, Murphy added: “There are some true things: President Trump forced out of office the administrator of the FAA. He’s been waging a regular assault on public employees since he came into office. He forced the entire Aviation Security [Advisory Committee] to step down.


“We don’t know whether those things had anything to do with this crash, but we should take the time to get to the facts.”

Its exactly as I said, diversity hiring of cocksuckers, criminals and the blind to operate air traffic control. The west is fucked. Thank god for trump.


Trump blames diversity hiring for Washington plane crash that killed 67.

Donald Trump has blamed a diversity hiring spree for causing the deadly crash between a military helicopter and a passenger plane that killed 67 people in Washington DC.

The US president accused Joe Biden, his predecessor, of reducing standards at America’s aviation agency to the “lowest level” while briefing the press on the collision between a US army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight near Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday evening.

Mr Trump vowed to “restore faith in American air travel”, revealing that employees with “severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities” had been hired as air traffic controllers as part of a diversity and inclusion drive.

“I put safety first,” Mr Trump said, adding: “Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen, because this was the lowest level, their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.”

Staffing at the airport tower had not been “normal for the time of day and volume of traffic”, according to an internal preliminary FAA report seen by The New York Times.

Mr Trump was asked why he blamed diversity hiring for the crash to which he responded: “Because I have common sense, OK, and unfortunately a lot of people don’t.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had been actively recruiting staff with “severe intellectual” disabilities and psychiatric problems as part of a diversity and inclusion drive, according to now-deleted guidelines from the agency’s website.

“Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring,” the FAA’s website read.

“They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”

The guidelines on diversity and hiring were last updated in March 2022, during the Biden administration, according to reports.


Last week, Mr Trump signed an executive order that banned DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies and ordered the FAA to return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring.

Mr Trump said a “systematic and comprehensive investigation” into the crash, which became the nation’s deadliest in a decade, would be carried out by the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board and the US military.

Under the Obama administration in 2013, the FAA scrapped a skills-based test and a certification programme, and replaced it with a biographical questionnaire to attract more diverse applicants to become air traffic controllers.

It was later replaced with a biographical assessment which critics say was designed to attract more minorities while penalising other candidates.


During Mr Trump’s first administration, the FAA spent millions of dollars on its civil rights budget to promote diversity.

Analysis of the agency’s budget submission from Mr Trump’s first presidency shows the federal government authorised spending nearly $13 million on the FAA’s office of civil rights in both 2018 and 2019.

The FAA also included a page on its website from 2019 stating that it places “special emphasis” on hiring people with disabilities.

The Republican leader, who was facing the first major test of his presidency, also suggested the pilot of the military helicopter had been at fault.

He said the helicopter had done “the opposite of what it was told” and could have “done a million different manoeuvres” to avoid the crash.

He added that the American Airlines pilot had been “doing everything right”, and questioned why the helicopter and the commercial jet had been flying at the same height.




Mr Lilley, 29, from Savannah, Georgia, had recently got engaged and was said to be months away from being promoted to the rank of captain.

‘Samuel was in the prime of his life. He was engaged to a beautiful, wonderful girl and we were all excited about her joining the family,’ his father, Timothy Lilley, told Mail Online.

Mr Lilley snr. is a former military pilot who helped his son go into the same profession.

Sam Lilley was the pilot on the American Airlines flight that crashed over Washington DC
Sam Lilley was the pilot on the American Airlines flight that crashed over Washington DC Credit: Twitter
“I saw the crash on the news. I didn’t think there was any way it was my son,” he told the outlet. “But then I watched long enough to figure out it was my son’s airline and then I kind of know his schedule.

“And so I called his fiancee, confirmed, like, ‘hey was Sam in Wichita? Yes, he was, was he going to to DCA? Yes, he was’. So then I had to tell her. It was just an ugly scene.

“You know what, I was okay for five, maybe 10 minutes. And then I bawled for 10 minutes. It’s a bitter, bitter pill to swallow.”

5:30PM
FAA spent millions on diversity hires during Donald Trump’s first term
The Federal Aviation Administration spent millions of dollars on its civil rights budget to promote diversity during Donald Trump’s first term.

Analysis of the agency’s budget submission from Mr Trump’s first presidency shows the federal government authorised spending nearly $13 million on the FAA’s office of civil rights in both 2018 and 2019.

The stated mission of the civil rights office is to “aid in the prevention of unlawful discrimination because of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, and individuals with disabilities employed by the FAA”.

The FAA also included a page on its website from 2019 stating that it places “special emphasis” on hiring people with disabilities related to “vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism”.

It comes after Mr Trump suggested that diversity hires under the Obama and Biden administrations have made America’s airspace less safe, after a military helicopter crashed into a plane near Washington DC killing all those on board.

Originally Posted by taxexile

Its exactly as I said, diversity hiring of cocksuckers, criminals and the blind to operate air traffic control. The west is fucked. Thank god for trump.

which control tower will he be working in ?

he will be hiring the blonde white women who suck cock , so you might have to adjust your criteria.

Originally Posted by taxexile

Its exactly as I said, diversity hiring of cocksuckers, criminals and the blind to operate air traffic control.

A typically ridiculous comment, especially in these circumstances.

But if any President were required to spot cocksuckers and criminals...

How long is it since you have been back to the west for any length of time. Its become like alice in wonderland.

What tf do you know about staffing of US air traffic control?

About as much as me.

Originally Posted by taxexile

H... Its become like alice in wonderland.

Just about an understatement. It's reasonable to speculate that DEI might be involved but other shxt happens too.

With competent ATC, incidents like this should never happen. I doubt that mechanical failure was to blame. I am confident an enquiry will judge that human error was the cause of this. Either from ATC, or the copter crew.

Originally Posted by cyrille

What tf do you know about staffing of US air traffic control?

About as much as me.

One could also ask what Fox News presenters know about running Defence and Transportation.

Originally Posted by taxexile

With competent ATC, incidents like this should never happen. I doubt that mechanical failure was to blame. I am confident an enquiry will judge that human error was the cause of this. Either from ATC, or the copter crew.

But baldy orange cunto just has to blame it on black, disabled transgenders.

Originally Posted by taxexile

or the copter crew.

I think you are onto something - it was a BLACK hawk

thanks balders, taking one for the team, im sure you understand i was reluctant to mention it.

And here we go. Proof as if any more were needed that the woke left scum, aided by the fanatical talibanesque orthodoxy of the criminals of BLM, the extreme activists of the gay and climate idiots are no more than 5th column infiltrators whose aim is to bring down western society, culture and commerce. I pray trump can destroy these verminous parasites. The tide is turning.

‘

Diversity hiring cost me job at FAA, a crash was inevitable’, claims whistleblower after accident
Aspiring air traffic controller speaks out following deadly collision between American Airlines flight 5342 and helicopter in Washington

Andrew Brigida, who scored 100 per cent in his training exam but claims he was denied a position in an air traffic control tower

31 January 2025 8:10am GMT
Connor Stringer


An aspiring air traffic controller who claims he was denied a job because of diversity targets said the aviation agency’s obsession with inclusion made an accident likely to happen.

Andrew Brigida, 35, scored 100 per cent in his training exam but claims he was denied a position in an air traffic control tower because the recruitment process of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) favoured diverse candidates.

He is part of a class action lawsuit filed against the federal agency.

Speaking after the disaster that killed 67 people, Mr Brigida claimed that years of diversity hiring meant it was only a matter of time before an accident happened.

“You want to hire the best and the brightest for this kind of job because it is a very stressful job and it can take a toll on you, age you prematurely,” he told The Telegraph.

“You want to make sure that the people that are doing it are the best.”


Mr Brigida graduated from Arizona State University’s collegiate training initiative in 2013 – a partnership program with the FAA that was previously used to train and select the most qualified applicants.

After scoring top marks in his air traffic control selection and training examination, he was placed on a preferred candidate list, until the FAA changed the rules.

Under the Obama administration, the regulator replaced a skills-based test with a biographical questionnaire to attract more diverse applicants.


When Mr Brigida tried again to become an air traffic controller under the new tests, he said he failed the biographical questionnaire because he “didn’t fit the preferred ethnic profile”.

Donald Trump blamed the fatal crash between a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 in Washington on the FAA’s recruitment policies.

Mr Trump said he candidates with “severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities” had been hired as air traffic controllers.

Mr Brigida said previous administrations were to blame for the air traffic control staffing crisis because they “got too comfortable because there has not been an incident in a long time”.

He said: “There have been plenty of stories of near miss events that have been the cause of staffing issues, it’s surprising that it’s gone on this long without being properly recognised by the government.”

In November 2019, attorneys for Mountain States Legal Foundation sought class action status in a lawsuit for more than 2,500 aspiring air traffic controllers who they say were harmed by the FAA’s racially discriminatory hiring policies.

They argue that the Obama administration endangered public safety by prioritising racial politics and owes compensation for the “grave injustice”.

The FAA and the US transport department are contesting the lawsuit.

Andrew Brigida, who scored 100 per cent in his training exam but claims he was denied a position in an air traffic control tower
P
Mr Brigida said he failed a biographical questionnaire because he ‘didn’t fit the preferred ethnic profile’
With the case expected to go to court early next year with 900 claimants, Will Trachman, the lead counsel, said Joe Biden tried to sweep the diversity scandal “under the rug”.

“This started under Obama but it’s the Biden administration that tried to sweep it under the rug and assert attorney-client privilege over 14,000 documents and has been trying to oppose and dismiss this case,” Mr Trachman said.

“It’s one thing to do it but the Biden administration refused to recognise the error of the FAA’s ways and so they dug in and, in fact, tried to go bigger on diversity measures.”

The president, who has recently signed executive orders dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government, blamed his predecessor for lowering standards and endangering lives.

“My administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety,” Mr Trump told reporters, saying you needed a “very special genius” to coordinate air traffic.

Quoting DEI policy, he said that the FAA was “actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions”.


© Telegraph Media Group Holdings Limited 2025

i very much doubt this has anything to do with blokes wearing frocks and more to do with one of the busiest airspaces in the US if not the world, a switch of runway for the passenger plane and a military chopper that proably should not be oparting in that ciirspace at night and certainly not on a training flight.

Its nothing to do with blokes or blokesses, but to do with hiring on background as opposed to ability.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

But baldy orange cunto just has to blame it on black, disabled transgenders.

Who would you rather operated ATC or piloted your plane? A fully qualified pilot ( of any colour or sexuality) or a less experienced pilot shoed in to tick one of bidens hundreds of diversity boxes.

This shit doesnt matter if you are a taxi driver, ditch digger or applying for menial jobs. Anyone can do that and it is wrong to deny someone a job if they have equal qualifications because of their colour or sexuality.

But for professional occupations, hiring must be on merit and merit only, and to give someone less qualified or experienced preference because of their colour etc. is wrong, dangerous and discriminatory.

But try telling that to a black trangender unidexter trying to work the system with a sly fucking grin on his face. You are being taken for fools! Wake up.

Originally Posted by cyrille

What tf do you know about staffing of US air traffic control?

He knows fuck all, just like the cheeto in chief, both of the bozos tend to talk out of their respective asses. Follow this link to listen to Adam Kinzinger, a retired Lt. Col in the US Air Force and former Republican member of congress. He is a pilot, and he tells it like it is. Tax is just shoveling shit talking points because he is an idiot...

https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1885028516455973131

Originally Posted by taxexile

This shit doesnt matter if you are a taxi driver, ditch digger

In fact, it does. If you cannot dig ditches quickly enough, you cannot get the job, or you lose it on day one. It's honest work and neither you nor I would last a week.