Summary

An American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair near Reagan National Airport, killing at least 18 people.

Trump initially expressed condolences but later questioned why the air traffic control tower or helicopter pilot didn’t prevent the crash.

The FAA identified the plane as a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700.

A Kennedy Center webcam captured the collision, and investigations are ongoing.

CNN’s Pete Muntean called the incident stunning, noting its proximity to a military base.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1095 months ago

    The questions he’s asking aren’t wrong to ask. The real problem, IMO, is that he’s the president and can’t simply post those questions publicly. He’s an idiot, though, so this is what we get.

    But seriously, he also asks why the Black Hawk pilot didn’t do ANYTHING to avoid a known flight path and I’ve asked the same thing.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      815 months ago

      This is the kind of stuff the “deregulate everything” crowd never seems to think about.

      This dumbass is in the process of removing all enforcement of agency regulations and then this prime example of why we have rules in the first place appears

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        125 months ago

        “Nooo, we don’t mean those regulations, only the bad ones!”

        proceeds to blindly revoke regulations

        “Whoopsie!”

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      345 months ago

      Why was the army running a night flight training mission in DC?

      Such a crowded airspace and I’m sure the military didn’t coordinate their flight plans with the local air traffic control.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        15 months ago

        I agree, the military is utterly incompetent and arrogant, so this wouldn’t surprise me if it’s the Army’s fault.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        145 months ago

        It’s a valid question, but I just watched a press conference where somebody explained that these aren’t rookie pilots but pilots looking to log the proper amount of flight hours.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        25 months ago

        Sadly the conspiracy theorist in me asks “who was on that plane that had a hit out out against them?” Latest was saying there were Russian figure skaters on board.

        I hate that my mind goes there but with this freaking administration, anything is possible.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    45 months ago

    Ok, I’m sure it’s because of incompetence but I do have to say it’s weird AF that there was also a contingent of Russian civilians on the plane and that this involved a military helicopter. Granted, they were figure skaters, but my brain was like “Man, Putin must really hate those figure skaters” when I heard about this over the radio.

    But again, it’s likely incompetence— even if you have to be at just the right altitude at just the wrong time to cause a mid air crash.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    45 months ago

    I mean, we all know already that the control tower DID tell the helicopter what to do. How come HE doesn’t know that?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    205 months ago

    It’s amazing how he always seems to have “the answer” AFTER something bad happens. But never the foresight to make changes before tragedy strikes.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    95 months ago

    I saw some of the press conference with the people investigating (it was on the news while getting ready for work) and one of the questions asked to them was this statement made by our glorious leader and I laughed. I laughed because it’s absolutely the complete opposite of how to handle this type of situation. As someone from his background, you would think he knows never to make any statements about anything until you have the clear picture first. What he did will just cause more headaches for people actually doing their jobs now and feel bad they even have to deal with Mr. Wildcard, creating more havoc for them than they need.

    I don’t work in public facing affairs, but even internally it’s known you don’t make any statements to anyone outside your department regarding serious issues because every word can be taken the wrong way unless worded properly. If it’s something serious, you consult as a team, and someone approves the statement sent out.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    185 months ago

    Is it just possible they got rid of a highly trained and competent trans pilot and replaced them with Private Cousinfucker from Dumbfuckistan?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    24
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    This was pilot deviation or pilot error for the helicopter. They were instructed to maintain visual separation and to cross behind the CRJ and then just didn’t.

    Edit: The issue was also that they reported CRJ in sight. If they couldn’t find the CRJ, ATC should have routed them on a safe path. But they reported in sight.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    75 months ago

    Maybe don’t have training flights at night into one of the most congested airports in the country?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      75 months ago

      I dont know how often they run there but I wouldnt be surprised if the cheeto said he wanted all kinds of mil practice in the area after he couldnt have a huge mil parade where he waived at them in the last term, but this is just me jumping to conclusions.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    235 months ago

    This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented.

    Too true, Donald, too true. I’ve been saying that a lot lately.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      345 months ago

      If Biden was firing every government worker he could and then such a rare event happened, involving a military helicopter in DC, it would be fair to blame him. Not when it’s trump tho! /s

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      385 months ago

      Well, he’s gone out of his way to sow chaos in every area of government including transportation. I would not be surprised if his actions did lead in some way to this tragedy.

  • Phoenixz
    link
    fedilink
    405 months ago

    The bodies ain’t cold yet and trump will already assign blame. Fuck actual investigation, who cares what really happened?

    Also, he probably wants to preempt things like realmfacts that might implicate his own government