Was it bad piloting and an overworked controller?

[msc545]

Maybe so. NY times excerpts:

The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways. Those jobs are typically assigned to two controllers, rather than one, the internal F. A. A. report said. This increases the workload for the air traffic controller and complicates the job.

The helicopter did not follow the intended route, the people briefed on the matter said. Rather, it was above 300 feet, when it was supposed to be flying below 200 feet, and it was at least a half-mile off the approved route when it collided with the commercial jet. The helicopter was supposed to be flying closer to the bank of the Potomac River and lower to the ground as it traversed the busy Reagan National airspace, four people briefed on the incident said.

The duties of handling air traffic control for helicopters and for planes at Reagan National on Wednesday night were combined before the deadly crash. That left an air traffic controller handling dual roles, according to a person briefed on the staffing and the report.

The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways. Those jobs are typically assigned to two controllers, rather than one, the internal F. A. A. report said. This increases the workload for the air traffic controller and complicates the job.

The helicopter flew outside its approved flight path. The American Airlines pilots most likely did not see the helicopter close by as they made a turn toward the runway. And the air traffic controller, who was juggling two jobs at the same time, was unable to keep the helicopter and the plane separated.

[MisterWack]

I read a few comments on YouTube and a lot of FAA workers are working 10+ hours a day nonstop almost… Can’t escape the crunch that comes from it since it is a high risk job, people are relying on you to make the right calls for the planes to land safely along with a lot not being able to have a life balance & proper check in with their mental health turning to alcohol to self medicate…. It is a sad to hear some don’t have lives, spouses, children or anything too. There needs to be a lot of focus and talk on how to improve the American system of flight.

We talk about healthcare system, wage gap, discrimination, and media sensationalism… Maybe we should also focus on FAA & flight system too. Real people’s lives are affected and we should talk about it.

[msc545]

It takes about 4 years to become a Certified Air Traffic Controller, and the school is apparently just brutal. Equally important, it takes a certain set of perceptual skills

(https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=GNN1gogcHdM)

to be a good controller, and not many people possess all of these. As a result, there are not enough controllers, much as there are not enough therapists.

No amount of training will magically transform people without the requisite skills for these professions into people who have them.

[MisterWack]

@msc545 Yikes, and I agree we should expand the criteria for air traffic controllers and allow for them to not work as long shifts / get access to therapy / allow for them to have lives outside of their field. Like Jesus this is brutal.

[dustybiker2]

@msc545 👍🏻

[exitseven]

I am trying not to jump to conclusions. What I do know is the control tower was understaffed and it is ridiculous to have helicopter training missions in the middle of a commercial airport.

[goaded]

Some other things we know:
➡️ January 20: FAA director fired
➡️ January 21: Air Traffic Controller hiring frozen
➡️ January 22: Aviation Safety Advisory Committee disbanded
➡️ January 28: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees
➡️ January 29: First American mid-air collision in 16 years

[msc545]

@goaded Yes indeed.

[dustybiker2]

@goaded 👍🏻

@exitseven You have good points too

[Joshydavid25]

@goaded That's too close in proximity to have any actual affect.. It was most likely just negligence or poor oversight..

[dustybiker2]

@Joshydavid25 It's not outside a point of making a fair argument though. Facts are facts.

[Joshydavid25]

@dustybiker2 Most of the blame lied with the pilot of the Helicopter if anything.. The Watch Tower let the plane going and the Helicopter pilot know with enough time for it not to have happened..

[dustybiker2]

@Joshydavid25 This could be true. They said the helicopter was above 200 ft and out of space told to travel. Two hits against their directions from ATC. And they were supposed to be very familiar with the airport being one of the local VIP helicopters transports.

[purplepoppy]

No matter how much training you have or how experienced you are at the end of the day we all make mistakes because we're human. It's ridiculous to expect people to be infallible. That doesn't take away responsibility but there needs to safeguards in place to deal with human error before accidents happen.

[exitseven]

Running helicopter training exercises in the middle of commercial airlines routes was a dangerous policy. It was only a matter of time something like this happened.

[msc545]

You are definitely not wrong about that.

[exitseven]

We need to find out who was in charge when this started.

[msc545]

@exitseven It kind of doesn't matter now.

[exitseven]

Somebody needs to be held accountable or this will continue to keep happening

[msc545]

@exitseven I think the lesson in this speaks for itself. There is again no need to savage people to make the point.

[exitseven]

@msc545. We just saw 4 years of government management where nobody ever had to take responsibility for anything. The results is just more train wrecks, more airplane crashes, more disastrous withdrawals from foreign adversaries and more American deaths. We need our government to have a culture of competence and accountability

[msc545]

@exitseven Management does not prevent these things. There has not been a crash like this for many many years.

[exitseven]

No but there have been an big rise in near misses and the local airport where I live there has been two collisions of planes taxiing in the runway in the last year. Who is running these airports?

[msc545]

@exitseven FAA

[msc545]

@exitseven how do you know there has been an increase in any of this and if there has how do you know why it has happened?

[exitseven]

@msc5455 This describes what went on at the FAA during Biden's administration. It looks like a lack of leadership and a failure to fix staffing problems and other systemic issues.

www.reuters.com/.../

[dustybiker2]

Will see what the official report says.. if it's thorough. I follow pilot debrief on YouTube and he finds it's sometimes a sketchy investigation with plane crashes. Hit and miss with the inspectors.

[TheStaleMarshmellow]

That episode of Breaking Bad shows there's not much room for any error for Air Traffic Controllers. If they where understaffed. That's a red flag that should have been addressed awhile ago

[msc545]

What episode of Breaking Bad? Can you link it please?

[TheStaleMarshmellow]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABQ_(Breaking_Bad)
Although it's the storyline in Season 2 to show how the butterfly effect works.

[msc545]

@TheStaleMarshmellow Thank you!

[UnwantedScorpio]

Those controllers are hard workin the work 1o hours or more