Sky News aviation expert Byron Bailey has described the cause of the fatal collision between an American Airlines plane and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter as being “cut and dry”.
Officials have not yet provided any causal information behind the crash — the deadliest aviation disaster in the US in more than two decades.
“The chopper actually rose to 350 feet and that was the last indication before the collision,” Mr Bailey told Sky News Australia.
“He shouldn’t have been there – he should have been at 200 – and the airliner at 400 feet.
“No-one needs the black boxes to work this one out, this is cut and dry really.”
source
The dumb Sky goose just doesnt want to hear that the military was to blame – clearly they were. Why not bash the military? Are they untouchable in nearly-dead Rupert Murdoch's eyes? What about the PFAS chemicals used in fire fighting foam at RAAF bases that leached into the groundwater & subsequently sent nearby real estate prices down the toilet & offered no compensation to those home owners. The military are often the worst & do not deserve a free pass.
I totally disagree that the controller was overworked. There is a proper way to issue traffic. He did not issue traffic properly. It is his first responsibility of the controller, including everyone in the tower at the time, to keep aircraft safe. When he issued traffic the 2nd time he should have been proactive in keeping the aircraft apart. As a former instructor in the FAA I always said coach, don’t referee. He was too passive. You’re a controller, CONTROL!
I guess mystery is why was copter in prohibited air space
Many reasons behind this tragedy. The BH pilot had reasonable hours, but still kind of lowish for that particular mission function according to former pilots. The second stick as 500 hrs was seriously low as they reckon 800 used to be the minimum. Another thing aboit the BH is that it has a crew of 3 and a couple pilots mentions that on night training missions they always had 4 crew. 2 pilots and 2 observers in the back – 1 taking each side. The reason for that was at the pilots were using NVG, that had 1 person on each side with eyeball vision. The glare from landing lights on the water is pretty bad with those goggles and even running lights are hard to define – just green flares of light so you can not tell if port or starboard running lights.
The other big issue is the tower is woefully understaffed – about 16 or 18 when the compliment should be 30. That means a lot of longer shitfts/overtime and a lot of monitoring far more than should be handled safely.
trump takes over and the planes start falling out of the sky ….hes an idiot that doesnt know what hes doing end of story
Cant helicopters hover? Maybe ATC needs to start calling out some sort of “STOP” for helicopters on these routes that even at max/mins, are way to close?
She, not he…
She was a military pilot under supervision .
Sky news have you heard the speculation about the speculation ?
American resident here..she the piolot Rebecca lobach..was a d.e.i.hore..she was a very young captain..and had flown 3 years but only had 500 hours flying time..she was. An army social whote house assistant…that means she was a glorified butler task manager for visit ing. ..folks to the national capital….no joke its true..theres people like this in America..and ifen apeak up they het fired..demoted
She was a pilot..an d simultaneously working to be a nurse for army abuse survivors….like many women ..she was pushed up to hight rank..for strange reasons…and could not make two careers fit into her human 12 hour days…like many women verbally say they can do..or live to careers but when reality come knocking we see this disaster..women talk alot and have fake confidence try being successful in raising a family and anboss ceo here in America….menspeak up and got cancelled fored years ago … hopefully trump will stop the madness..but tarriffs look to destroy our economy…all politicians are evil
Please give this some considerastion : There certainly is a lot of sincere interest in "why' and understandable passion behind some of the political commentary…but please give the NTSB a chance to find the "cause".I flew 42 years,with a career overlapping the AF,AF Reserve,Eastern and United and in my time as an AF Safety Officer,I worked closely with the NTSB.While the FAA has the dual responsibility of overall safety and advocacy for the industry ( a conflict on its surface),the NTSB is one of the few independent,objective organizations whose sole purpose is to find the blunt truth thru painstaking,methodical investigation.Their answer will be the only one that matters.
The helicopter should never have been there why was it there ,
The pilots of the PAT group fly VIP around the area! So they know the location very well – like TAXI DRIVERS in DC do.
She wasn't a simple military pilot – she was a AIR TAXI DRIVER. This pilot knew about the extremely dangerous passage (flying through a LANDING ZONE) perfectly.
Therefore, she could have EASILY avoided a crash – flying at 100 feet OR even5 less.
But this pilot did exactly the OPPOSITE – she flew at least 50% ABOVE the permitted MAXIMUM altitude.
The military planes should never be flying in that air space period. You would think they would send them in the opposite way down the river to keep people safe
Let me see, if the Helo was at 200 feet, it would have barely missed the plane by 150 feet? That’s Ok in anybody’s mind as acceptable as a general plan? I don’t think so, Mr Cut and Dry, put another Shrimp on the Barbie Expert.
The secondary effect of DEI hiring is no one is really sure who got into the position by merit and who got the by identity. It is a disservice to those who are truly qualified to be in that position.
I think this was intentional
I heard the air traffic tell the helicopter pilot to go behind the aircraft!
Is there any possibility it is a US army 'black op' in progress?? The helicopter ram right into the airplane from video recording.
Thank you.
and now we know it wasn't a guy
Doesn't the military craft have IFF which would have given the military pilots conclusive information about the aircraft around them.
Also. The Tower supervisor let one air traffic controller go home early before the end of their shift… which put the remaining controllers at greater stress…
TRANS GENDER PILOT WHO HAD BEEN POSTING BAD THINGS ABOUT TRUMP….MAYBE THIS WAS A SUICIDE
ATC at fault primarily. Chopper only saw planes on the right for runway 01, not plane on left for runway 33. ATC didn’t advise of that either. Chopper only sees landing lights, not plane bodies.
She was DEI worked in Biden White House also all socials were scrubbed before her name was released days after other names. And to me it looks like she climbed into the plane
And by “he”, we all mean “she”. SHE shouldn’t have been that high.
Jan 20-trump fires FAA director.
Jan 21-trump freezes all air traffic controller hiring.
Jan 22-trump disbands the Aviation Safety Advisory Committee.
Jan 28-trump sends a buyout/retirement ransom letter to existing FAA employees.
Jan 29-First American mid-air collision in 16 years, 67 fatalities.
The impact of crime ripples through entire communities, leaving lasting scars. 🌊
Mind control and remote control chopper. The 28 ur pilot had all her social media scrubbed likevthe lone gunman had who tried to assasinate Trump. The pilot was workingvas comm officer for Biden. Knew too much . Expendable. Whole thing FISHY TRAGIC
my question is who EXACTLY was in the airplane?
The pilot turns out to be a lesbian DEI hire.
How can it be cut and dry when they don't even discuss or consider all facts and details???
All radar and computer systems should be updated every year. Money is no object as concerns the safety of airline passengers. Moreover Boeing should make an active effort upgrade the aircraft to the latest safety features even after the sale. If management refuses to take a proactive approach to ensure the safety of the aircraft, then change the management.
Forget about feeling sorry for the ATC. How about feeling sorry for the passengers who were murdered.
This act proves we do not have the best trained Army fliers in the world. I don’t know how you can stand there in your little speech and claim that Mr Trump
Lesbian DEI hire
The airliner had to change course and might have been adjusting for descent on the glide slope of runway 33. That the airliner was higher than usual wasn't a concern or else the pilot would have aborted.
well said the only thing that would have avoided a collision is not letting the other controller to go home boils down to managment again as usual like all over the world great speech from the experienced pilot
the atc did get the warning but he was on the radio to the other plane while the other controller was allowed to go home and the only cntroller left couldnt talk to the other plane till he came off the air from the other plane by that time there was only 2 seconds left before impact which was too late its simple he shouldnt have been allowed to go home early without replacement thats my view anyway