The Potomac Flows South and Empties into Chesapeake Bay.

I can certainly understand the need for training and re-certification missions.

According to news reports, the Army UH-60 Blackhawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. Is that where it originally took off from and was flying back to base? If so, what is the rationale to head towards Reagan National on a route that would require it to fly underneath commercial passengers jets on a landing approach instead of away from from the airport? (again, if it had originally flown north of the airport and was now returning to Fort Belvoir when the tragic collison occured.)

The Potomac River flows south and empties into Chesapeake Bay. And there are no major commercial airports that empty into the bay in that direction along side the river.

Yes, there are plenty of other helicopters that fly along the Potomac, both military and commercial. But it is a very crowded airspace. Why not relieve at least some of the congestion?

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Arnoldjrmmer · 56-60, M

Flight simulators do not fully replicate real flight.
Helos are not easy to fly and nightime ops are even worse. Back in the 80s there were a series of crashes with blackhawks related to the use of 2nd gen night vision gear.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Arnoldjrmmer

SecDef said that was a "routine annual retraining – night flights on a standard [flight] corridor for a continuity of government mission."

I would take that to mean the rescue of key government officials who would be at pretty recognizable sites from the air: the White House, the Pentagon, the Capitol, etc.

It's difficult to image any flight crew NOT being able to recognize those buildings, daytime or nighttime. Unless the city is blacked out and that's what they were training for with night vision gear - for the evacuation of important government officials in a time of crisis. But even that could be replicated in a simulation given that in an actual flight the coordinates of key target pickup points would already be loaded into the Blackhawk's navigational system.

This may simply be a case of, "That's how we've done things in the past without any problems."

Arnoldjrmmer · 56-60, M

@beckyromero its not seeing things. NVGs do not give depth to the user. That is why the train with them. I can see this being a bad confluence of depth perception and reality

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Arnoldjrmmer

We don't know for certain whether the crew was using NVGs.

But it seems pretty clear they were practicing for the rescue of government officials. The call sign of the Blackhawk was PAT25. ("priority air transport")

Arnoldjrmmer · 56-60, M

@beckyromero no you are correct, but id place a bet that NVGs were part of that drill. Those pilots are not amateurs

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Arnoldjrmmer

Perhaps. But let's look at the possible training scenario.

If you're training for a night extraction at very prominent spots in the D.C. area with the assumption the city is well lit, you are not going to need NVGs.

If you're training for a night extraction at very prominent spots in the D.C. area with the assumption that the city would be dark, perhaps as the result of a tactical nuke, then the city lights are going to interfere with NVG.