DC Plane Crash Blows Lid Over Festering Chaos in ATC
US Place crash Image credit X.com
Military Helicopter Crashes into Passenger Airline to Expose Rot in ATC
By Raisina Correspondent
New Delhi, January 31: A day after a military helicopter flew into a passenger airline, the US is debating chaotic situations in the air traffic control (ATC). Sixty seven people died in the fatal mishap after the Black Hawk helicopter blew off the incoming airline from Kansas.
Report said that only one air traffic controller was in the station at the Regan National Airport in Washington DC when the air mishap took place. A team of skaters perished in the worst air accident in decades in the US.
Politico in a report quoted an aviation veteran, saying the “probe would most likely include an examination of factors that have repeatedly come up in previous close calls: fatigue, distraction and potential miscommunication.”
It stated that the US witnessed a spike in near-collisions, with five incidents in 2022 and 11 incidents in 2023. It added that at least one passenger-carrying airplane came close to colliding with another plane or ground vehicle. The report quoted the FAA’s database, which tracks near mishaps in the air.
US: Military Helicopter Crashes into Airlines with 60 Passengers
NBC News reported that supervisor at the ATC let one air traffic controller leave earlier before the mishap. The broadcaster stated that only one air traffic controller was actually looking at the helicopter and airline traffic, which otherwise is overseen by two controllers.
The revelations further spotlighted the rot in the air traffic management even while US debated claims of President Donald Trump that the diversity in recruitment was to be blamed for the fatal mishap in the air.
The New York Post in a report quoted unnamed experts, saying that “the helicopter pilot may have maneuvererd to avoid the wrong plane”. The lone traffic controller had warned the pilot of the helicopter 30 seconds before the mishap to look at an approaching airline.
But the report stated that the Black Hawk pilot looked at another airline to respond in an affirmative to the air traffic controller. But the helicopter immediately crashed into the airline.
Experts are debating how the ill-fated chopper and airline were flying at the same height. They are posting data and images on social media platforms to argue that the air traffic management has been messy at Regen National Airport.
Tristan Snell, an author, listed “things that caused the DC plane crash: — Having one air traffic controller do a job that two people normally do, because of far-right efforts to destroy the government”.
The Verge in a report blamed billionaire Elon Musk for leaving the FAA leaderless. “The FAA is facing its first major aviation disaster in 16 years without a leader because Elon Musk pressured the former FAA administrator to resign on January 20th,” said the Verge in a report. It claimed that Musk had been angry at him for “fining SpaceX for failing to get approval for launch changes”.
Daily Mail also in a report said that the military helicopter was flying at least 100 feet above its approved route. It also stated that one air traffic controller had left his shift earlier than the scheduled time.
The New Republic in a report claimed that the early findings of the DC air crash contradicted the claims of Trump. It quoted a report of The New Yorik Times to state that “having to handle both types of air traffic can be complicated”. Air traffic controllers can use different radio frequencies for helicopter and airplane pilots, added the report. In such cases, while the controller is communicating with pilots of both kinds of aircraft, the pilots may not be able to talk to one another.
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