Lord have mercy. How does this happen? I mean, a Helicopter is MUCH more maneuverable than a commercial airliner...this had to be pilot error for the helicopter...
Originally Posted by Spott:
Does that airport get a lot of commercial traffic? I fly a lot and can’t say I’ve ever seen helicopters anywhere near the airports I fly out of.
Originally Posted by Why Not?:
Yeah. It’s literally one of the busiest airports for commercial travel in the country if not world. And being DC and just the region anyway, there is tons of military traffic as well.
Originally Posted by scho63:
It's busy but it is all the helicopters that fly back and forth and up and down the Potomac night and day, both singular and in groups.
Busiest helicopter traffic I have ever seen. 3 major military bases they fly from: Andrews Joint Air Force, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and Ft Belvoir.
Ft Belvoir is the main helicopter training facility. Our first office in Springfield took me by there multiple times a week and I would see as many as 8 helicopters in the air at once in formation.
I also once saw 6 of them all practicing a ground hover at about 3 feet off the ground like they were standing still.
It is a very concentrated area.
I am shocked this hasn't occured before.
I have seen copters nearby takeoffs and landings all the time over my 10.years in the area.
I used to take a water taxi from Alexandria to Georgetown up the Potomac and it would pass Reagan Airport and it was always busy with all types of air traffic. [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
I am shocked this hasn't occured before.
I have seen copters nearby takeoffs and landings all the time over my 10.years in the area.
I used to take a water taxi from Alexandria to Georgetown up the Potomac and it would pass Reagan Airport and it was always busy with all types of air traffic.
I used to see a lot of helicopter traffic when I lived in Jacksonville because of the 2 large navy bases there, but they were probably 20-30 miles from the commercial airport. Obviously DC is a different situation with everything that is there. With all that traffic there with different types of aircraft, it’s surprising that something like this hasn’t happened before. [Reply]
Man waiting for his wife at Reagan National Airport, who was on board the commercial plane that crashed with Blackhawk, tells local news that she texted him shortly before the crash.
I work right across the river from Reagan National. The Coast Guard is running constant sorties out of National (Jayhawks), you've got blackhawks tooling up and down the river doing god knows what, you've got VIP's flying in State Department helicopters at all hours of the day...But the worst from my experience are these Blackhawks. It's like Vietnam over the Potomac sometimes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by seamonster:
I work right across the river from Reagan National. The Coast Guard is running constant sorties out of National (Jayhawks), you've got blackhawks tooling up and down the river doing god knows what, you've got VIP's flying in State Department helicopters at all hours of the day...But the worst from my experience are these Blackhawks. It's like Vietnam over the Potomac sometimes.
I know it would be expensive, but maybe it's time to begin to shut down commercial flights into Reagan, transition to just government and military air space.
Dulles and Baltimore would need to be expanded, and maybe another airport in either Northern Virgina or Maryland. The metro now goes out directly to Dulles. It couldn't happen all at once, but that traffic around the Potomac is crazy and their is only ONE runway where heavies can land. [Reply]
Man waiting for his wife at Reagan National Airport, who was on board the commercial plane that crashed with Blackhawk, tells local news that she texted him shortly before the crash.
Man waiting for his wife at Reagan National Airport, who was on board the commercial plane that crashed with Blackhawk, tells local news that she texted him shortly before the crash.
Why does our media think its a good idea to stuff a camera and microphone in front of a person experiencing the worst moment in their lives? Nobody needs to see that shit. [Reply]
Man waiting for his wife at Reagan National Airport, who was on board the commercial plane that crashed with Blackhawk, tells local news that she texted him shortly before the crash.
Anyone else thinks it's incredibly tacky for the reporter to ask a terrified family member to see their phone to confirm the text message? What kind of normal person thinks thats a good idea.
This whole ordeal is just incredibly sad and scary. Plane travel is still easily the safest form of transport but when its been so long since we've had an incident in the US this is a sobering reminder that accidents happen. [Reply]
