Question? Did Air traffic controllers get the resign/offer letters that went out 2 days ago to federal workers? or get fired under DEI?

@hippyjoe1955 I was referring to operational and mission experience. One could learn how to take off and land a 747 in one long afternoon. Within just a couple of days even do a full trip around the traffic pattern without the flight instructor ever having to touch the yoke. That doesn’t amount to the experience needed to fly that 747 from JFK to London. We kind of got a glimpse at the experience thing a few years ago when John Kennedy Jr crashed, killing himself and others.

This is not about blaming someone with little experience but about the system design to accommodate all experience levels. Counting on a VFR aircraft to stay clear of approaching and landing airplanes isn’t enough, double not enough at night. Some countries prohibit night VFR. It’s never really VFR if the pilot can’t see the ground or horizon. Never really VFR if it.s difficult to distinguish stars from other airplanes or from lights on the ground.

I have no idea if it still exists, but I recall a “VFR on top” flight plan that allowed military aircraft to take off under IFR conditions and climb until atop the clouds, then convert to VFR flight plan with an eta to a holding fix where they would resume as an IFR flight fo descending through the clouds and landing. Maybe a need for something similar for VFR flights escaping and transitioning through heavy congested airspace.

It’s been 45 years since, but I remember the old Air Force flight manuals, operating manuals for pilots and crews, a different manual for each aircraft, called then the “Dash One”. Every page or two had bold face warnings, I think the warning word may have been in red, and followed by a strong “do not” directive. It was my understanding that every, if not most warnings got in the manual as a result of a fatality or fatalities. As tragic as this accident is, I hope we learn something that will prompt changes to make flying safer.

@hippyjoe1955 :) I have a history with the FAA. I lost my airline job as a casualty of the controllers strike back whenever. To help recover, the FAA advanced their training process and sent A siders to the next step. To fill the role of the A siders, they invited laid off airline pilots to be temps as A siders, and I became a “scab” FAA employee while figuring my next step. Of course they wouldn’t let us join t’he controller training progression because we were too old and they knew we too considered it temporary and would walk in favor of returning flying jobs.

I did stay for about 6 months. It did give me a bit of an insider peek at that part the aviation world; lots of good people there, but not a place to invest a career.

I guess you're one of those that have a problem with DEI being removed as a requirement.

So, let me educate you on one important fact.
Over 90% of the Air Traffic Controllers trained in the USA are White Men.
Over 85% of that Trained Labor Force received their On The Job Training from either the US Air Force, US Navy, or US Army.

Now under your preferred DEI requirement, that Highly Trained and Experienced Labor Pool CANNOT be hired in any capacity in regards to Air Traffic Control.

Now as to Whitaker stepping down, well he had no other choice. Because back during his confirmation, he was asked whether he had any Aircraft Industry or Operational experience whatsoever and he said NO he did not. But under DEI, he was confirmed as head of the FAA anyway.

Now as for those Trained Individuals, they're working as baggage handlers, general airport laborers, in aircraft industry jobs, other non-aircraft related jobs, and some are homeless. But since they're White Men, many jobs are not available to them under DEI requirements.

Impossible to know but from what I can gather the two aircraft were to keep an impossibly small vertical clearance of 200 feet. The airplane descending on short final approach (very limited mobility) was supposed to be at 400 feet and the helicopter was to be at 200 feet. At night in a busy traffic area they allow helicopters to cross the glide slope. Top that off with the fact that the two aircraft are on different radio frequencies and can't talk to each other and the helicopter pilots use night vision goggles that are known to have failures. This wasn't an accident. It was a planned incident. Anyone who knew about that kind of ATC malfeasance and malpractice simply wasn't paying attention.

My own assessment exactly:

[media=https://youtu.be/X3PtOdR_VCc]
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Did you notice that Trump automatically threw members of his owned armed forces under the bus when he blamed them as being the primary causal factor for the incident?

This is typical of Trump in his business-like approach to being a tyrannical bully-boy narcissist - ie. when someone is no longer useful to his agenda(s) or cause(s) he just discards them like those people are no longer human and have had the right to exist as human beings extinguished by Trump's commands as CiC.

Not to mention the effects of nearly three months of uncertainty and daily demoralisation that all federal workers have experienced.

If journalists ask real questions they get excluded from the important briefings.

id say its a terrosit attack like the two others, why havent they ofud the helicopter pilot, i bet he swam away , to fight anothr day,

Military should had not used the place.

its bound to have had an effect, but the air traffic know thir job and cando it, id say its terrorist and chump is too scared to admit it