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

Just asking after the air plane crash in Boston. Why do the journalists not ask these questions??? Was the FAA Director asked to resign last week under the Federal cuts? Was the security advisor David Pecosce fired?

TIME MAGAZINE

"The Trump Administration is facing its first major test after a passenger jet and Army helicopter collided mid-air in the Washington, D.C. area on Wednesday night, in what officials are calling the most fatal aviation disaster on U.S. soil in more than two decades.

The collision quickly raised concerns about the state of air traffic control and oversight and sparked questions about recent leadership changes within the federal agencies charged with regulating air travel.

Just days before the crash, President Donald Trump enacted a sweeping shake-up of the federal agencies responsible for aviation oversight, removing the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), David Pekoske, and eliminating all the members of a key aviation security advisory group. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates airlines and aircraft manufacturers and manages the nation’s airspace, was also without permanent leadership at the time of the crash, as its top official, Michael Whitaker, stepped down ahead of the new administration’s transition after clashing with Trump ally Elon Musk. Whitaker became the agency’s administrator in October 2023."

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

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.

Carazaa · F

@hippyjoe1955 My question is that many federal workers got a golden handshake letter and also I just read that the FAA chief was asked to resign just a few days ago and he did resign. Oh my goodness I have been so worried about people being affected by federal cuts you don't even know all the people who are affected by programs helping people. God will let the truth out!

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@Carazaa We have no idea if any of those ATC folks were about to be laid off. Nice of you to try to take the story in a direction it doesn't need to go yet. Lets just deal with the facts. The military and the FAA allowed that kind of dangerous flying conditions to exist for years. They were lucky. Luck ran out and 67 people paid with their lives. What we do know is the helicopter pilots were told to use visual references to fly behind the passenger jet. The helicopter pilots did not do as instructed. You can't blame that on poor moral among the ATC. Nice try though.

Carazaa · F

@hippyjoe1955 The FAA chief was asked to resign a few days ago.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@Carazaa And so was some big wig at the USDA. There is absolutely no causal relationship. This was an accident years in the making. The error was made by whoever was flying the helicopter because that pilot accepted responsibility to avoid the passenger jet. As a pilot I have been given such a responsibility myself. Flying through controlled airspace the ATC told me to watch for and avoid another aircraft. I was able to spot the air craft and maintain vertical separation. However one other time I was flying when I was passed on my right by 3 fighter jets at low altitude and high speed. I never knew they were there until they passed me. They don't have the same radio frequencies my airplane used. I can only assume they saw me and decided there was enough room for all of us without any incident. We were about a mile apart so the chance of collision was very very small.

Carazaa · F

@hippyjoe1955

TIME MAGAZINE
"The Trump Administration is facing its first major test after a passenger jet and Army helicopter collided mid-air in the Washington, D.C. area on Wednesday night, in what officials are calling the most fatal aviation disaster on U.S. soil in more than two decades.

The collision quickly raised concerns about the state of air traffic control and oversight and sparked questions about recent leadership changes within the federal agencies charged with regulating air travel.

Just days before the crash, President Donald Trump enacted a sweeping shake-up of the federal agencies responsible for aviation oversight, removing the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), David Pekoske, and eliminating all the members of a key aviation security advisory group. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates airlines and aircraft manufacturers and manages the nation’s airspace, was also without permanent leadership at the time of the crash, as its top official, Michael Whitaker, stepped down ahead of the new administration’s transition after clashing with Trump ally Elon Musk. Whitaker became the agency’s administrator in October 2023."

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@Carazaa Yawn. You think you are getting news from Time? Really? I was listening to a bunch of pilots who have thousands of hours flying in and out of that airport both passenger jets and helicopters. They also played the ACT radio chatter that the pilots would have heard. This had nothing to do with firing incompetents. It had everything to do with pilot error. Were there other factors that went in to the error? Malfunctioning equipment? Lack of experience? Sensory overload? Mistaken identity? We have no way of knowing. What we do know is firing some clown at the top of the FAA is not going to cause a military helicopter to fly into the side of a commercial jet on final approach. Given that the helicopter was told about the jet and the helicopter accepted responsibility for evading the jet the accident is not the result of the firing of the head of the FAA. I rather doubt that the controllers on duty that night could even pick out the person fired if he were in a police line up. I know I couldn't.

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@hippyjoe1955 interesting discussion. Does the Blackhawk not have both uhf and vhf capability? In an environment where 90% of the air traffic is using vhf, why is the US military hiding out of earshot on uhf radios? At DCA, are both the tower and approach control located together? On different floors? Miles apart?

Was the helicopter on a VFR or IFR flight plan? It makes a big difference in the role of the air traffic control, as well as identifying the possible system flaws. Per my understanding both planes were lower than 300 feet, and likely merged into city lights, like “where the hell is it?” When looking into a sea of lights.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@Heartlander Details will be coming out soon I am sure. Early reports said that the airliner was on the glide slope where he was supposed to be. The helicopter was high and was flying visually. I don't truly buy the idea that the helio pilot got confused with air planes. One landing and one taking off. He was told he had 1200 feet separation from an aircraft. That is spitting distance not an airplane miles away going the opposite direction. There was a ex Blackhawk pilot who said that the 3 person crew was not enough given the circumstances. There should have been 4 crew with two up front and two out the back keeping an eye out for other aircraft.

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@hippyjoe1955 The experience level of the helicopter crew wasn’t very high, especially considering where they were flying. Experience counts as the number of variables gets added to the pile. Mixing a high volume of VFR in IFR traffic is a setup for an accident. Too much human judgment requirements imposed on the VFR pilots. Were both the tower and helicopter understaffed?

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@Heartlander One of the pilots had a 1000 hours the other had 500 hours. How many hours are required before you are experienced enough to fly VFR at night? I was able to legally do it when I had only 50 hours. Since that time they have limited my access to many airports because I am not flying on instruments but regardless at 1500 combined hours I don't think they failed because of lack of experience. In fact it may be that they were too confident based on the hours they had accumulated. Statistically it can be shown that pilot error accidents drop after the pilot has 150 hours but then goes up after the pilot has 1000 hours.