Passenger flight from Wichita collides with military helicopter in D.C.

[DaFace]

Well, this is awful.

Reports: Inbound plane from Wichita collides with helicopter near Washington, D.C. airporthttps://t.co/4dpNJb8rqT #kwch12

— KWCH 12 News (@KWCH12) January 30, 2025

Up to around 70 people were involved between the two aircraft.

[BigRichard]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I guarantee that if I was ever in that position and one of those shitheads stuck a mic in my face, my answer would be about as far from cordial as you could get.

I've often wondered why more people don't just tell them to **** off.

It probably happens more often then we get to see... they just don't show those interactions.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I heard it was a training flight that wasn’t entered into the FAA ledger so the air traffic controllers were out of the loop.

We will all eventually get the truth of what happened.

They still talk to clearance, ground, tower, and departure. ESPECIALLY around DC.


DC is the most controlled airspace in the world.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Kiimo

There are systems already in place where multiple things have to go wrong for anything to happen which is why nothing had happened in 16 years of constant flights all over the country. In short, there won't be one thing that went wrong it's a failure across multiple things.

The Swiss cheese holes lined up.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

From a professional helicopter pilot I know from another forum.

Military aircraft avionics are complete shit compared to most civilian aircraft.

I was hanging out in the Amarillo FBO some F-16s pulled up and parked.

I don't ever pass up the chance to talk to the baddest ass mother ****ers on the planet so we chatted about stuff. I was flying a low tail Piper Lance (a very nice one) and they asked me about it. Had dual Garmin 430's in it which was sensational back in 2002. I took them out to show them and they were blown away at how nice the dash was. One guy said he would kill to have one moving map GPS in his plane. They had a light indicator that verified via GPS receiver that LORAN was accurate.

That blew me away. 25 million dollar airplane. I hope things have changed.

[RedRaider56]

Looks like the ATC was working two different areas, simultaneously ... Yikes.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/staffing-...ion-faa-report

[Kiimo]

Originally Posted by RedRaider56

Looks like the ATC was working two different areas, simultaneously ... Yikes.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/staffing-...ion-faa-report

This is a nothing nonsense inflammatory story. This happens all the time, everywhere.


That would actually HELP the situation, not hinder it.

[RedRaider56]

Originally Posted by Kiimo

This is a nothing nonsense inflammatory story. This happens all the time, everywhere.


That would actually HELP the situation, not hinder it.

Good to know. Not passing judgement, just going to follow what the NTSB investigation uncovers

[Kiimo]

Just pointing it out mostly because the article makes it sound like one person running both is overloading the ATC guy but actually coordinating everything with one person has less room for error than two. Communication is essential when there are two.

[seamonster]

Originally Posted by Kiimo

Just pointing it out mostly because the article makes it sound like one person running both is overloading the ATC guy but actually coordinating everything with one person has less room for error than two. Communication is essential when there are two.

Sounds like the onus is completely on the Blackhawk to maintain "visual separation".

[notorious]

If the Blackhawk had ADS-B out the plane would have known exactly where he was and probably would have been all over it.

The situational awareness that system provides is amazing.