Reagan airport crash 1/29/25

[ismith]

Likely a Montana Army Guard Chinook. I flew out of Helena for almost a couple decades with Montana Guard and recall some of the other "weekend warriors" who were civilians being a bit off the usual flight paths.

Yeah, my old unit. The Cessna was the flying clubs I believe, seen it flying last week. I have stories!

 

[TheTone]

Agree. Hopefully, Don Jr will chew his butt out for his comments during the presser and tell him an apology is in order. Now is not the time for such words.

Ha! When has he ever chastised his dad? He won’t bite the hand that feeds

 

[Jwill]

Heartbreaking. Have flown in and out of there several times, always liked it better than Dulles.

 

[mdhunter]

I have been in and out of that airport many times. It exists for the convenience of congress (and anyone else not willing to drive to Dulles).

Congested (in the air and on the land) is absolutely the truth. They would never build it there today.

 

[WVmike]

If I have the choice to fly out of Dulles I will everytime and pay the the price difference if there is one due to the location and how difficult it is to get into the place from the interstate. I have missed more than one flight trying to fly out of that place. Absolutely terrible what happened to people that were just going about their day and returning home/vacation etc. The weather last night in the area was cold and windy with gusts where I live up to 50 mph until later in the evening. It would be nice if we as humans could be a bit nicer to one another rather than make it this against against this. We are all people.

 

[Sytes]

Some people on here generally want to have a conversation without some of you turning it into a pissing contest.

I’ll delete where it started and reopen.
If you can’t have an educated, civil, and calm conversation then you may want to stay away from these threads.

Need a repeat. The extreme on both sides need to dial down the vodka to Red or Blue Kool-Aid consumption in various threads.

 

[ismith]

MSN

If this is accurate it sounds like they were likely trying to get their required monthly minimum NVG time.

 

[WVmike]

They may have had night vision but for anyone who has worn those, they don't work so well when there is alot of light around especially with DC and all of the light that they have in the city and around the airport.

 

[Gulf of America]

MSN

If this is accurate it sounds like they were likely trying to get their required monthly minimum NVG time.

 

[ismith]

They may have had night vision but for anyone who has worn those, they don't work so well when there is alot of light around especially with DC and all of the light that they have in the city and around the airport.

Much worse than night unaided in that environment.

 

[WVmike]

Much worse than night unaided in that environment.

I would agree, some people just think night vision allows for complete perfect imaging just like we see during the day. Doesn't work that way.

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

Some people on here generally want to have a conversation without some of you turning it into a pissing contest.

I’ll delete where it started and reopen.
If you can’t have an educated, civil, and calm conversation then you may want to stay away from these threads.

 

[Richard22]

According to a review by the New York Times and later reported by Fox News...

"Staffing at the air control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report reviewed by The New York Times.

The controller who was handling helicopters Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from the airport runways, the Times reported. Those assignments are typically assigned to two controllers."

 

[CRJR45]

Some people on here generally want to have a conversation without some of you turning it into a pissing contest.

I’ll delete where it started and reopen.
If you can’t have an educated, civil, and calm conversation then you may want to stay away from these threads.

Bob out ! LOL

 

[Straight Arrow]

Yeah, my old unit. The Cessna was the flying clubs I believe, seen it flying last week. I have stories!

Are you related to retired Chief Warrant Officer Vietnam helicopter pilot, Master Army Aviator extraordinaire HUCK SMITH? (from Helena)

 

[ismith]

Are you related to retired Chief Warrant Officer Vietnam helicopter pilot, Master Army Aviator extraordinaire HUCK SMITH? (from Helena)

Nope, can’t say I am. I was with MTARNG from 2005 to 2020, so I’m sure we know some of the same people though.

 

[406dn]

We have a gorgeous day in January today, and I decided to spend some time outside.

So, I took the dogs and a horse, and went for a nice ride, running my younger dog. It was windy but mild. The scenting must have been decent as she had a nice find on a small group of huns. There wasn't too much snow, but just a few miles away, there was still quite a bit.

The air traffic controller who was directing the airplane, and or helicopter, has to have tremendous remorse and guilt over whether everything possible was done to avoid the collision. It may well, not at all be his fault, or only has some portion of the blame for what happened.

It likely comes down to a half dozen or more things that went wrong, and those lining up in a way that the plane and helicopter ended up hitting each other.

People across the political spectrum died in the crash. People across the political spectrum tried to rescue them. The former group deserves our condolences and the latter group deserves our respect.

I hope for many years, going forward, of safe travel in commercial air travel. It is truly remarkable that air travel seems so routine. It takes a lot of work from many people to make it so.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Nope, can’t say I am. I was with MTARNG from 2005 to 2020, so I’m sure we know some of the same people though.

Perhaps ... but I retired in 1998! LOL

 

[ismith]

We have a gorgeous day in January today, and I decided to spend some time outside.

So, I took the dogs and a horse, and went for a nice ride, running my younger dog. It was windy but mild. The scenting must have been decent as she had a nice find on a small group of huns. There wasn't too much snow, but just a few miles away, there was still quite a bit.

The air traffic controller who was directing the airplane, and or helicopter, has to have tremendous remorse and guilt over whether everything possible was done to avoid the collision. It may well, not at all be his fault, or only has some portion of the blame for what happened.

It likely comes down to a half dozen or more things that went wrong, and those lining up in a way that the plane and helicopter ended up hitting each other.

People across the political spectrum died in the crash. People across the political spectrum tried to rescue them. The former group deserves our condolences and the latter group deserves our respect.

I hope for many years, going forward, of safe travel in commercial air travel. It is truly remarkable that air travel seems so routine. It takes a lot of work from many people to make it so.

Perhaps ... but I retired in 1998! LOL

I enlisted in 1998 and did 6 years AD. There were a few VN vet pilots still flying when I showed up. It was a privilege to fly with them.

 

[44hunter45]

We had a near miss here in Helena years ago. Around 2011 if I remember correctly, CH-47 and a Cessna 172.

We use to fly our 182 through military controlled airspace. FAA would hand you off to the military controllers. It was shocking how close the military controllers would space you. There were a couple of times I swear I could read "Goodyear" on C-130 tires. Everyone in our plane was always on swivel neck traffic watch.