America - The Official Thread

[Eunos_Cosmo]

So, the FAA stated in a preliminary report that the control tower was understaffed and that one ATC was doing the job of two. So it wasn't DEI; it was, like everywhere else, a lack of employees.

Once again, our Idiot in Chief continues to talk out his oversized, wrinkly, flabby, orange ass.

Well good thing Trump is asking all federal employees to resign...

 

[Meythia]

Well good thing Trump is asking all federal employees to resign...

I guess this would actually for the better.
Easier to sabotage his current term by absence and then rebuild a torn down nation rather than trying your best on a job that your higher ups are making as miserable for you to be not succesful in as they possibly can.

 

[Keef]

Here's a nice short video that attempts to put itself in the viewpoint of the helicopter. Audio has come out which shows the helicopter requested and confirmed visual separation responsibility twice, although we can't prove exactly which airplane they were keeping visual separation from. Something I hadn't considered is that DCA was landing on two runways, 1 and 33, the former of which is a staight-shot up the river while the latter requires to sidestep. This means its possible the helicopter could've been looking at two aircraft out in front of them, or perhaps only one while not seeing the other slightly off to the side. We even have general rules for how to light up the aircraft when cleared for approaches and cleared for landing although it's not regulatory.



I can't confirm but I've read on Reddit that the helicopter may have been wearing NVGs? If that's true I'm not sure how that can possibly be a legal way to operate VFR. As far as I'm aware, the viewing angle through NVGs is severely limited and I don't see how a pilot could easily monitor their entire surroundings with those things on. Peripheral vision is extremely important at night, particularly because it's different to gauge the position and movement of spots of light when you're staring right at them. Typically we rely on looking off to the side of a source of light to gauge its position, or a bit of peripheral vision for this. Even if these guys were staring straight at the United flight with open eyeballs, I don't quite understand how they couldn't see a bright ass light just off to their left, slightly above them. Even though the light wouldn't have been moving because they were on a collision course, it would've been extremely bright and very obviously not on the ground. Any source of light or object that doesn't move is a problem, that's the telltale sign of a collision course.

Edit: The helicopter crew was indeed wearing NVGs during a training flight.

 

[Tornado]

The President of the United States went on television and claimed that the reason a Blackhawk plowed into the back of a civilian airliner during a clear night sky was because it was too woke.






What a time to be alive.

 

[Pupik]

The President of the United States went on television and claimed that the reason a Blackhawk plowed into the back of a civilian airliner during a clear night sky was because it was too woke.






What a time to be alive.

That pathetic man-child took exactly ten days to play the blame game for an accident for which exactly nobody was blaming the President for, but still managed to spread lies and opinion before any facts, which is the very definition of a witch hunt. And of course, Fox News is running with those words as fiat. Even away from the links, he's still par for the course.



What a time for electroconvulsive therapy.

 

[McLaren]

Sorry Donny, by his own standards, he gets to own this accident.

1) His White House said he "ended DEI Madness" within' the federal aviation administration back on the 22nd. If DEI "caused" this accident, then clearly he didn't end it & lied.

President Trump's America First Priorities

FLIGHTS SHOULD BE SUPERVISED BY THE BEST EMPLOYEES: President Donald J. Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum terminating a Biden Administration

www.whitehouse.gov

2) He took credit in 2017 for no air travel deaths. If he can take credit for that, he gets credit for this.

Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news – it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!

Edit*
Either too damn stupid to think they meant literally go in the water, or think that was such an appropriate remark.

The president said on Thursday he would be meeting with some of the families of victims of the tragedy, which occurred at Ronald Reagan Airport Wednesday night. All 67 people involved in the crash are presumed dead, authorities said previously.

When asked about his plans to visit the crash site, he replied: “I have a plan to visit, not the site. Because you tell me, what’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?”

Trump says he won't visit crash site because it's 'the water‘

The president said on Thursday he would be meeting with some of the families of victims of the tragedy, but did not specify when

www.independent.co.uk

 

[TB]

I would love for him to go swimming.

In the Potomac River.

Alone.

At night.

 

[Spacegoat]

The best thing you can do is shut up and let OUR President do his job as I'm sure he is a lot smarter than you and your bias opinions!

Wow. So much for free speech, I guess.

Or is it only considered free speech when you agree with it? I keep forgetting what the rules are.

 

[TexRex]

Either too damn stupid to think they meant literally go in the water, or think that was such an appropriate remark.

Trump says he won't visit crash site because it's 'the water‘

The president said on Thursday he would be meeting with some of the families of victims of the tragedy, but did not specify when

www.independent.co.uk

lol. lmao. Can't breathe. Send help.

Let's face it, Trump could walk on water and all you'd be hearing is how terrible he is because he can't swim.

 

[FPV MIC]

Wow. So much for free speech, I guess.

Or is it only considered free speech when you agree with it? I keep forgetting what the rules are.

I have this problem with a car group I'm a member of. I can't reply to them about anything political they post without being called a schizophrenic that needs to seek help, and I need to have my eyes opened... or something.

Facts and free speech? What are they?

 

[Blitz24]

I would love for him to go swimming.

In the Potomac River.

Alone.

At night.

You mean go drowning? I don't think he knows how to swim. At least I don't think there's been any talk of him learning how to swim.

 

[Spacegoat]

Facts

Sadly, that's a naughty word with a worryingly large percentage of people these days.

And it serves you right for hanging out in Ford groups anyway. J/k

 

[opelgt1969]

Wow. So much for free speech, I guess.

Or is it only considered free speech when you agree with it? I keep forgetting what the rules are.

💩

 

[FPV MIC]

Sadly, that's a naughty word with a worryingly large percentage of people these days.

And it serves you right for hanging out in Ford groups anyway. J/k

What makes you think it's a Ford group? I have an HSV and a Subaru as well remember.

Dammit, I cannot tell a lie... it's the Ford group.

 

[Spacegoat]

💩

What makes you think it's a Ford group? I have an HSV and a Subaru as well remember.

I did forget about the HSV honestly.

 

[CTznOfTime]

💩

So do you agree or disagree?

Isn't what @Spacegoat said correct?

By default, Not saying anything here means that you acknowledge being wrong, because you have not provided anything to effectively counter that...

 

[Scaff]

💩

Ah, a well-rounded, truly considered, and insightful rebuttal. Consider us thoroughly enlightened.

 

[Tornado]

I'm sure he is a lot smarter than you

Man, I guess I just never knew I had a room temperature IQ.

 

[Keef]

The accident conversation continues to evolve into more detail. I posted this as a response on the r/flying subreddit:

While VFR flight rules don't necessarily require any measureable FOV, they do imply unrestricted field of view within the confines of a cockpit. I do see a possible regulatory issue with those NVG stats - 3rd class medical certificates require a minimum of 20/40 vision, so the NVGs are at the minimum there. But a commercial pilot license and above requires a 2nd class or 1st class medical, both of which require vision corrected to 20/20.

Commercial pilot cert regs seem to be a place where the military and FAA diverge. A Blackhawk weighs over 12,500 max gross which is the limit for even a commercial license. Anything above requires a type rating (including all turbines), and type ratings require an ATP, and ATP requires a first class medical, and a first class medical requires 20/20 vision.

So apparently Army helicopter pilots are flying ATP-level aircraft with private pilot-level certification standards. Sick.

I would love for him to go swimming.

In the Potomac River.

Alone.

At night.

Maybe send him off a 300 foot high dive.

 

[GBO Possum]

Here's a GPT prompt which helps in understanding this cluster:-

How does a sycophantic kakistocracy create a self-reinforcing feedback loop of extreme ideas, leading to their accelerated implementation? Give historical examples.

Edit - see attachment

 

[TexRex]

Here's a GPT prompt

 

[UKMikey]

💩

Just fyi... we can already see your username, so there's no need to sign your post.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Trump's responses to this disaster have been in remarkably bad faith, even for him.

 

[Keef]

I personally have never operated out of DCA and my company does it sparingly due to complex security procedures and other issues. But apparently these helicopter routes have been a plague on airline traffic for some time. VAS Aviation has just learned about these helicopter charts and went digging a little more. There was an RA on the north side of the airport just a day before the accident, in a very similar situation.

I left a comment on some caveats to this video. The helicopter chart they overlay appears to be out of date - there are some route differences and ceiling notation differences. According to the current charts in ForeFlight, this helicopter appears to be following altitude rules although they might be deviating from the route laterally. Regardless, the tolerances baked into these altitudes are simply too tight and it caused an RA for this ERJ.

 

[Danoff]

So, the FAA stated in a preliminary report that the control tower was understaffed and that one ATC was doing the job of two. So it wasn't DEI; it was, like everywhere else, a lack of employees.

The headlines read "Trump blames DEI". Shouldn't it be something more like "non-white-men" instead of DEI? When you can just point to a brown person, or a woman, or whatever, and say "DEI" then calling it blaming DEI is not accurate. It's just looking for non-white-males and blaming them for whatever happens.

If you're a Trumpet, you might be tempted to say "well DEI is a real thing and it can be blamed for putting less qualified people in certain positions". And sure, you can go that route. And it's not automatically racist to blame a DEI program for something. But you'd need to actually do the work of blaming the program itself for that, and show that the people were unqualified. If you're lazy about it and just look for non-white-males and say DEI, then you're not doing the work, you're just being racist.

 

[CTznOfTime]

So this the logic:

White = smart
Non white (DEi)= dumb and lazy


?

Did I get this right ? Is this essentially what trump and all the trumpers and trumpettes maga think ?

 

[Blitz24]

So this the logic:

White = smart
Non white (DEi)= dumb and lazy


?

Did I get this right ? Is this essentially what trump and all the trumpers and trumpettes maga think ?

For lack of a better description, yes. It also makes the argument for Vivek and Kash Patel look hypocritical (as they can just say "I am friends with a brown person".)

 

[CTznOfTime]

For lack of a better description, yes. It also makes the argument for Vivek and Kash Patel look hypocritical (as they can just say "I am friends with a brown person".)

DEi friends.... 😂

 

[Joey D]

The headlines read "Trump blames DEI". Shouldn't it be something more like "non-white-men" instead of DEI? When you can just point to a brown person, or a woman, or whatever, and say "DEI" then calling it blaming DEI is not accurate. It's just looking for non-white-males and blaming them for whatever happens.

If you're a Trumpet, you might be tempted to say "well DEI is a real thing and it can be blamed for putting less qualified people in certain positions". And sure, you can go that route. And it's not automatically racist to blame a DEI program for something. But you'd need to actually do the work of blaming the program itself for that, and show that the people were unqualified. If you're lazy about it and just look for non-white-males and say DEI, then you're not doing the work, you're just being racist.

DEI is more than just hiring non-white men, though. It's doing anything that essentially "checks a box." So, it could be adding more people who are of different races, sexual orientations, gender identities, religious beliefs, disabilities, and whatever other protected class there is. It does happen in some cases, but it doesn't happen at nearly the rate that Trump and Republicans claim, nor do I believe it's as detrimental as they claim. Cronyism is vastly more prevalent than DEI and way more harmful at putting unqualified people in positions just because they know the right people. We like to label it "networking," but in reality, it is just hiring people because you know someone and completely ignoring better people because you feel like you owe someone a favor. It's stupid, and it's made the corporate world full of a bunch of morons. The government is currently being overrun with morons for precisely the same reason.

 

[Danoff]

DEI is more than just hiring non-white men, though. It's doing anything that essentially "checks a box." So, it could be adding more people who are of different races, sexual orientations, gender identities, religious beliefs, disabilities, and whatever other protected class there is.

Yea this is fair to describe the actual program itself. But it's often not how the complaints get levied. You can't see sexual orientation or religious belief the way you can see race and (for the most part) gender. So DEI often just gets thrown at whatever non-white-male was nearby the tragedy. If someone happens to be ID'd as gay or trans or whatever, then sure, they'll be happy to blame those people as well.