400 More people have been fired from the FAA.

HSR, Trains, or autos are safer these days.

If you think that the FAA had anything to do with that crash landing, you are truly a fool.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

New thread for politics behind/involved of the Washington helicopter/aircraft collision

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

There was a plane crash in Canada which uses FAA air traffic controllers since they cover all of North America.

This is factually incorrect - The FAA does cover small parts around the USA/Canada boarders that are not covered by Nav Canada - who cover the bulk of the Canadian airspace which is the largest single-authority airspace in the world. Most, if not all thee major Canadian International airports are under NavCanada's control (and NavCanada are activly recruiting and training more controllers).

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Yes and no.
Way back when a number of helicopter routes were established by the FAA in conjunction with the various civil and military users of these routes. So, "yes" the FAA were involved.
BUT (and it's a big one) the helicopter in question should have been flying at, or below 200ft, but was above the permitted altitude,and that was under the direct control of the crew. So "No".

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Flight altitudes: The FAA is currently unable to determine what altitude was displayed to the Blackhawk pilot as this was not recorded by the FDR. The helicopter's AIS did not transmit this as well. At low altitudes, correct measurement requires setting the altimeter to the actual air pressure (e.g. of the airport of arrival) instead of the standard pressure for higher altitudes. Okay, there are radio altimeters too. But a reading of "300ft" in the helicopter and "400ft" in the CRJ easily can lead to a crash if not the same pressure normal was used. As somebody else explained here already: TCAS is of no help at such low altitudes either; unable to advice a safe solution.

Why is it even permissible for helicopters to cross approach paths of busy domestic (inner-city!!!) airports with a such a small vertical clearance if different pressure standards have to be taken into account. Compare that with cruise flight levels with same, 'normal pressure', where 1,000 ft separation is mandatory.

Then there are arguments the FAA has been pushing for years to reduce the number of slots at the overstrained DCA airport. Instead: number of slots have been further increased. The argument goes Congress members prefer direct flights over connecting flights and the FAA is ultimately an authority bound by government oversight (has to adhere to political wishes).

It is actually the NTSB who are conducting the investigation into this crash, and they have just released their initial findings which outlines the relative positions and conditions of the helicopter and aircraft. One area of confusion is the display of altitude to the helicopter crew - there are four different displays, two radio and two barometric, it is alleged that there was a big (relative) disparity between these, both between types and side of the cockpit. For civil aircraft there are allowed errors, which vary with altitude, 25ft at sea level, and increasing as the altitude increases; all instruments have to be checked against each other and with a known reference before a flight is commenced, using the airport as the reference altitude (airports on land don't move very much....); do military aircraft have to follow the same rules?
Some will ask "couldn't the pilot flying look across at the other side and see those instruments? - Well one can in a Cessna 152 because the cockpit is quite narrow, and the altimeters are not tucked away on the very outer edges of the instrument panel, but from what I've seen the older "steam instrument" Blackhawk these pairs of instruments are at the very outer edges of a much wider cockpit so are a human factors nightmare.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Altimeter locations, blancolirio - DCA Mid Air NTSB Update 14 Feb at 8m:00s

What isn't being said, but is being said, the radio transmissions from the blackhawk. Rote. Almost dismissive. Like don't bother me the instructor pilot is ...